NATO chief predicts how China could set off World War III: ‘Let's not be naive about this'
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said it would be 'naive' to believe that Xi's ambition to conquer the autonomous nation of Taiwan would only involve the two countries, predicting that the war would be fought on two fronts.
'There's an increasing realization, and let's not be naive about this: If Xi Jinping would attack Taiwan, he would first make sure that he makes a call to his very junior partner in all of this, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, residing in Moscow, and telling him, 'Hey, I'm going to do this, and I need you to keep them busy in Europe by attacking NATO territory,'' Rutte told The New York Times.
4 NATO Chief Mark Rutte warned that China could tap Russia to invade further into Europe to distract the West from responding to the looming invasion of Taiwan.
RUT / SplashNews.com
Xi and Putin have touted their close partnership throughout Russia' invasion of Ukraine, with the Chinese president previously stating that their alliance has 'no limits.'
Rutte's prediction that Beijing would use Moscow to distract the West echoes reports from the European Union's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last week, where the official allegedly claimed Xi cannot afford to see Russia lose the war in Ukraine.
The shock revelation reportedly saw Wang drop all pretenses and described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a blessing that allowed focus to shift away from Beijing's looming invasion of Taiwan, sources familiar with the talks told the South China Morning Post.
American and Taiwanese officials predicted that China would mount its assault on Taiwan come 2027, as Beijing seeks to annex the independent country.
4 Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, Russian President Vladimir Putin have touted their partnership in recent years.
AP
Rutte warned that the world has also seen what a Russo-Pacific alliance can accomplish through the developments of the war in Ukraine, which has already seen more than 12,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to assist Moscow's invasion effort.
The conflict has also seen Moscow get its hands on Iranian-made drones, with the EU also accusing Chinese companies of supporting Russia's military complex.
'So here, the Indo-Pacific and your Atlantic are getting more and more interconnected,' Rutte explained as he backed the call for NATO nations to raise their defense spending.
4 China has held multiple drills along Taiwan as it warned that it will annex the country one day.
AP
'We know that China has its eye on Taiwan. Given this whole geopolitical setup, there is no way we can defend ourselves if we stick to this old 2 percent,' he added.
In order to curb the risk of global war, Rutte said it was imperative that NATO bolster its forces in order to scare Russia from expanding its invasion further into Europe.
He also called on western nations to unite and curb China's aggression in the Indo-Pacific, which has seen Beijing perform several, large-scale military drills surrounding Taiwan.
4 Rutte called on NATO nations to bolster their defenses so that Russia would be too scared to invade another European country.
AFP via Getty Images
Former Russian President and top Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev slammed Rutte's prediction of World War III and mocked the NATO secretary general on X.
'SG Rutte has clearly gorged on too many of the magic mushrooms beloved by the Dutch,' Medvedev wrote.
'He sees collusion between China & Russia over Taiwan, and then a Russian attack on Europe,' he added. 'But he's right about one thing: he should learn Russian. It might come in handy in a Siberian camp.
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Clare Mulroy: I think to everyone, it means something a little bit different. For seasoned horror readers, it could be something that scares the living daylights out of any other reader, but might bring them the most comfort because it's a genre that they love the most. For me, I feel like it's a lot of nostalgia reads or comfort authors that I have. I grew up reading a lot of Jody Pico. I've read a lot of Taylor Jenkins Reid in the past couple of years. Kristin Hannah is an author I love, and for me, when I'm craving a comfort read, I'll often go to a book by those authors, even if I've never read that book before, but they just feel comforting for me to read. Taylor Wilson: Let's get to this list then, Claire. Let's start with Anxious People by Fredrik Bachmann. For folks who don't know, who is this author? You write that you'd nominate any Bachmann book to this list. Why is that and why this one? Clare Mulroy: Oh, I seriously would. I mean, there's just something about him. He's a Swedish author and I think a lot of people might know him from A Man Called Ove, which was adapted into a movie with Tom Hanks, A Man Called Otto. He's written a bunch of books. He has a new one, My Friends, that came out this May, and it's just something about his work that leaves you feeling so much better about humanity and your place in the world. It feels like a big hug to read his books. And even though he often writes about really hard parts of life, like mental health, anxiety, depression, suicide, you kind of come away from it just feeling hopeful at the end of the book. So I think Anxious People is a great one to start with, but I would recommend any of his books, especially My Friends, the new one that just came out in May. Taylor Wilson: Well, Claire, you notably have multiple books about animals on here. This stood out to me and not surprising when we're talking about comfort. What were the creature-centered books you wanted to amplify here? Clare Mulroy: Healing fiction is a big subgenre that's popping up right now. In a lot of healing fiction, which is these cozy, comforting reads that are often translated from Korean or Japanese, We'll Prescribe You a Cat is one that I have on this list, the majority of these covers actually feature a cat on them. And we've done stories on cozy mysteries and cozy fantasies, those type of genres that feature these little furry sidekick characters and they're just total hallmarks of that category of reading. And I think Remarkably Bright Creatures is another one. It's an octopus, so not necessarily a fuzzy creature, but a lovable one nonetheless. There's a dog that's central to My Grandmother Asked me to Tell You She's Sorry by Frederick Bachmann. Animals are what we turn to in tumultuous times, and I think the same goes for any kind of comfort read. Taylor Wilson: All right, how about Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting? What can you tell listeners on this one? Clare Mulroy: Oh yeah. My book club read this last year and we really loved it. I mean, I'm such a sucker for a found family trope and this book sees an unlikely community formed on a commuter rail. I live in New York City, so I'm well-versed in the kind of unspoken rule of not talking to strangers on the train, but I think that there's just something so powerful and hopeful about a book of unlikely friendships built out of mundane daily activities, and it really made me feel a little bit better about the world and a little bit more hopeful about the communities that I found along my way and in those kind of mundane moments of life. Taylor Wilson: Well, I got really excited when I saw this next one as a big fan of Miyazaki movies, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynn-Jones. And this is the source material for that famous Miyazaki movie, correct? Clare Mulroy: It's loosely based on the 1986 novel. I think Miyazaki movies are just the ultimate comfort movies, so I figured what better opportunity to put one on this list and kind of remind folks, put it on their radar that it is a book too, so you could get it in book form. In general though, I think anyone who loves Studio Ghibli movies should check out the cozy fantasy genre. We have a story up on our site with the best books to start out with if you're new to the genre, and I think it's just the perfect comfort read. Taylor Wilson: All right. Any other honorable mentions? Anything else either from this list or anything that didn't make the list that you want to get in here? Clare Mulroy: Oh, I had so many good ones I had to leave on the cutting room floor. I mentioned cozy fantasy, but I do also really love a cozy mystery. I'd recommend Thursday Murder Club to anyone, anything with senior citizens solving murders is a comfort read to me. I'm also going to plug one of my favorite comfort reads, which is a non-fiction title. It's Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton, and I think especially for any listeners or readers that are in their 20s or kind of finding themselves and figuring out their relationship with early adulthood, with friendships, with their career, it's a book that makes you feel really held as a young person and kind of guides you into adulthood and tells you that it's all going to be okay. That's one I go back to often. Taylor Wilson: Folks can find this full list with a link in today's show notes. Clare Mulroy covers books for USA TODAY. Thank you, Claire. Clare Mulroy: Thanks for having me. ♦ Taylor Wilson: And coming up tomorrow, computer implants in the brain are no longer the stuff of science fiction. It's nascent technology that's having life-changing impacts on patients right now. Dr. Iahn Cajigas: We're learning with these tools today about how the brain represents information related to movement to either help patients restore their ability to speak or move their hands to give them some independence, autonomy, or communication. Taylor Wilson: That was Dr. Iahn Cajigas, a neurosurgeon with the University of Pennsylvania, who is part of a team of researchers currently studying how the technology can be most effectively deployed to help patients live better lives. Dr. Cajigas sat down with my colleague Dana Taylor to share his optimism for the evolving technology. You can hear that conversation right here tomorrow beginning at 5 AM Eastern Time. ♦ And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and as always, you can email us at podcasts@ I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back Monday with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
