Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, warned that Europe risks undermining NATO by pursuing strategic independence. Dismissing calls for an EU army by Spain’s foreign minister Albares, Bolton cautioned against repeating Cold War-era divisions. He also criticized Europe’s insufficient concern over China’s support for Russia and a potential attack on Taiwan. Former Canadian deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, now advising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, echoed concerns, warning that U.S.-European divisions weaken any collective response to China.
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Bolton, who was also U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for President George W. Bush, was unimpressed. “He is wrong,” he retorted. “He (Albares) has also spoken about the necessary for a European Union army — to which all I can declare is good luck with that.
“It’s not like Europe is filled with strong political leaders at the moment, or that the capability exists that they can handle a number of crises entirely on their own. It was a key Soviet goal during the Cold War to split the NATO alliance, and one reason among many that that didn’t work is that we didn’t let the divisions come between us. It would be a cruel irony if after the Cold War we did it to ourselves.”
Bolton also opined on what he sees as Europe’s lack of seriousness about China, as Trump arrived in Beijing for his long-awaited meeting with President Xi Jinping.
“While Europeans worry about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they worry less about China’s role supporting Russia, and they don’t worry so much about a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, although I consider the things are increasingly linked toobtainher — and I consider the war in the Gulf right now with Iran is with a principal Russian-Chinese surrogate,” Bolton declared. “I’m not sure that Europe as a whole considers beyond the North Atlantic.”
Chrystia Freeland, the former Canadian deputy prime minister and current economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also issued a warning about Europe’s posture on Trump’s visit to China.
In a separate interview at the summit, she informed POLITICO that the rift in the relationship between the U.S. and its European allies “creates it that much harder for a collective position when it comes to China.” She added: “It’s very hard to do without the United States being part of that effort.”
