The chairman of the NATO military committee, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, said: “If we can make sure that all essential services and goods can be provided, no matter what, that will be a key part of building our deterrence.”
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, he described deterrence as an element that goes far beyond military capability alone, as all available tools can and will be used in war. We see this with the increasing number of sabotage operations around the world, and Europe has experienced this with energy supplies.”
“We thought we had a deal with Gazprom, but in fact we had a deal with Mr. Putin. And that is also true today for Chinese-owned infrastructure and goods. We actually have a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping.”
The West’s dependence on China for supplies is such that about 60% of all the world’s rare earth metals are mined in China and about 90% are processed there, and that chemical ingredients for tranquilizers, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and blood pressure medications also come largely from China.