REUTERS

Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg says that the NATO Strategic Concept should be updated in view of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the rise of China.

He made this announcement during an online press conference following the first day of the meetings of NATO Defense Ministers on February 17, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

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"This is the time to update NATO's Strategic Concept," he said.

"So that we address existing and emerging challenges, recommit to our values, and reinforce the bond between Europe and North America."

"I propose for heads of state and government, when they meet later on this year, that they should agree to update the NATO Strategic Concept. I do so because I think the time is right. We have a Strategic Concept we agreed back in 2010 and that Concept has actually served us well," he added.

According to him, since then, the security environment has fundamentally changed. For instance, the current Strategic Concept does not address the shifting balance of power and the security consequences of the rise of China. "We hardly mention climate change. I think climate change is a serious crisis multiplier and it really affects our security, we need to address that in a new strategic concept," he said.

"And, also, back in 2010, we were working for, establishing, what we then referred to as a strategic partnership with Russia. Since then, we have seen Russia being responsible for aggressive actions against neighbours, the illegal annexation of Crimea and things have fundamentally changed," he said.

"So we need to update our Strategic Concept. We need to recommit to our core values. And we need to use the Strategic Concept to further strengthen the bond between North America and Europe," he added.

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