HANDSHAKE: Jens Stoltenberg posted this photo on his Twitter account after today’s meeting with President Joe Biden. Photo: Erik Luntang, NATO
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WASHINGTON DC (VG) Just over an hour after Jens Stoltenberg entered the White House, he came out and thanked Biden for his NATO support.
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– It is a good tone and was a nice meeting. It was a lot of seriousness, but also humor and fun. It was good to meet again. He understands Europeans and knows the United States. That combination is good and good for cooperation in NATO. He also told small anecdotes from the oval office, says Stoltenberg in a meeting with the Norwegian press after the presidential meeting.
The NATO chief is the third international top leader Biden has received in his oval office since his inauguration on 20 January this year. The meeting took place a little before 23.00 Norwegian time on Monday night.
Stoltenberg considers the exclusive access to be an expression of Biden’s commitment to NATO, he says.
– We addressed a wide range of topics. Russia, China, global terrorism, cyber threats and the security consequences of climate change, says Stoltenberg.
– Endangered position
The meeting between the NATO chief and the US president took place a week before the NATO summit in Brussels on 14 June. China’s rapid technological development and international expansion are on the agenda.
– One of NATO’s real strengths for decades is that we have been a technological leader, in almost all systems. That position is now challenged, not least by China investing heavily in technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, face recognition and using it in its weapon systems, Stoltenberg answers questions from VG about this.
DONE: Jens Stoltenberg right after the meeting with President Joe Biden in the White House.
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Bidens Europe tour
On Wednesday, Biden travels on his first trip abroad as president, a week-long European trip with departure on Wednesday this week.
He will attend the NATO summit in Brussels, the G7 leaders, a separate meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson – and Vladimir Putin of Russia.
Stoltenberg and Biden have agreed on China as a significant, growing threat to the West.
Stoltenberg believed that NATO must have much greater attention to China. In a column in The Washington Post Sunday, where Biden laid out his agenda for the European trip, he mentioned China three times.
—-SECURITY ADVISOR: Jake Sullivan is President Biden’s national security adviser. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
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– The democratic countries must together ensure that it is our values, and not the interests of autocrats, that govern the development and use of these innovations, writes the American president.
In a pre-summit speech, Stoltenberg stated that NATO does not see China as an adversary.
He nevertheless confirmed the alliance’s new and tougher line against China, which experts fear could damage Norway’s relations with the country, which is expected to become the world’s largest economy with time.
—-PRESS MEETING: Jens Stoltenberg answered questions from the Norwegian press a couple of hours after his meeting with Biden. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
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Emerging security challenges
During the White House press conference earlier in the day, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, explained that in addition to the historically lasting threats to the United States – such as Russia – the president would also emphasize “emerging security challenges”:
“Cyber and China,” Sullivan said.
—-MEET: On June 16 in Geneva, Switzerland, President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin will meet. Biden’s predecessors, Obama and Trump, met Putin once each during his tenure as US president. Foto: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Pool
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Technology
“Biden will also address co-operation with Europe in terms of trade and technology, so that democracies and no one else – not China, or other autocracies – make the rules for trade and technology in the 21st century,” Sullivan continued during the press conference.
Biden will return to Washington next week.
– If we are to maintain our technological strength, we must invest more together, use technologies such as artificial intelligence, self-propelled or autonomous systems, and use this in a way that ensures our security, but at the same time in accordance with international law, says Stoltenberg to VG.
—-PENTAGON: Jens Stoltenberg arrived at the Pentagon at 11:00 local time and was welcomed by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. Photo: Erlend Ofte Arntsen / VG
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Pentagon meeting
Earlier in the day, Stoltenberg met with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.
In his remarks at the outset, Austin praised Stoltenberg for having managed to increase the member states’ financial contributions. The number of countries that spend more than two percent of GDP on defense and security has increased under Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg, for his part, emphasized the United States’ commitment to NATO cooperation, but also emphasized the importance of a continued civilian presence in Afghanistan now that the United States and NATO will end their military operation there after the summer.
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