Sec Gen Stoltenberg: Members To Agree To More Ambitious Spending At Summit

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking at a press conference to present his Annual Report for 2022, has commended NATO members for increased defence spending pledges, saying that "seven allies have met NATO's 2% spending target in 2022," and he expects members to agree to "more ambitious spending at the NATO summit in July."

• Stoltenberg says that since 2014 the picture "has totally changed" and now defence spending is "going significantly up," after a prolonged period of defence reductions.
• Stoltenberg offered some caveated praise for China's 12-point position paper to resolve the Ukraine war. He welcomes any initiatives to end the conflict and support's China's call for territorial integrity but says the final decision must fall to Ukraine.
• Stoltenberg also repeats warnings issued by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House NSC spox John Kirby that a Chinese-brokered ceasefire may be used by Russia to "freeze" the conflict with occupying troops in place to regroup and launch a second invasion.
• Stoltenberg says, although Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow is a sign the two countries are growing closer, he hasn't seen any proof that China is delivering weapons to Russia.