Allies defend military spending

BRUSSELS - NATO allies are pushing back against US criticism that they are not spending enough on defense as President Donald Trump ratchets up pressure ahead of a summit next week.

In the weeks leading up to NATO's July 11-12 meeting in Brussels, Trump sent letters to the governments of Norway, other European allies and Canada demanding that they boost their military spending.

After Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, NATO allies agreed to stop cutting defense budgets, to start spending more as their economies grew and to move toward a goal of devoting 2 percent of GDP to defense within a decade.

In an email on Tuesday to The Associated Press, Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said "Norway stands by its decision of the NATO Summit in 2014 and is following up on this".

Norway has spent "far beyond" NATO's target on new military equipment, he added.

In Germany, "we stand by the 2 percent goal we've set", Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday. "We're on the path there. And we're prepared ... to take substantial responsibility within the alliance," she added. When faced with the suggestion that the German government's explanations might not impress Trump, von der Leyen retorted: "We don't want to impress anyone."

Germany is "investing as much as necessary, as appropriate and as is fair toward our common allies or partners in the alliance", she said.

The upcoming NATO summit is the first major meeting since the fractious Group of Seven talks in Canada last month. NATO officials are concerned that trans-Atlantic divisions over trade tariffs, as well as the US pullout from the Paris global climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, could undermine alliance unity.

Guideline only

The US spends more on defense than all the others combined - 3.61 percent of GDP in 2016, or around $664 billion. That's roughly two thirds of total spending on national budgets, according to NATO estimates.

Trump argues that a pledge was made and must be kept.

Others argue the 2 percent pledge is a guideline only.

"You can ask 10 lawyers to provide a legal interpretation of that document and then you will have, I guess, 10 different interpretations," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. "This document is not a legal document. It is a political document with a political commitment."

Despite the dispute over military spending between Europe and the US, Macedonia deputy prime minister and defense minister Radmila Sekerinska announced on Tuesday that Macedonia would receive an invitation to join NATO next week.

According to Sekerinska, the membership invitation to Macedonia will be extended in Brussels during the summit.

Ap - Xinhua

(China Daily 07/05/2018 page11)