Stoltenberg: China is watching allies' resolve on Ukraine

Supporting Ukraine and admitting it to the alliance would be a “good deal” for the U.S. and NATO, as Beijing is watching and taking note of the allies’ resolve, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview to Fox News on Jan. 28.

Stoltenberg visited Washington to persuade the U.S. Congress to pass a new $61 billion aid package for Ukraine. Republican lawmakers have opposed the bill, requesting it be passed only together with new policy and funding initiatives to strengthen the southern border.

"If Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine, Taiwan might be the next country to be invaded by an authoritarian neighbor," he said.

“It’s not only making Europe more vulnerable, but all of us, also the United States, more vulnerable, if Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine.”

The bloc's leader added that as a Norwegian, he remembered that when his country joined NATO, Russia also tried to frame it as a provocation and not as a country’s sovereign right to join a defensive alliance.