Washington: Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has promised to strengthen alliances with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) member-countries and along with several other countries like India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines if she is elected to power in November's presidential elections. Her remarks came days after former US President Donald Trump's controversial statements on NATO that shocked European countries.
The 52-year-old Haley said if Trump is re-elected a threat to the NATO alliance is one of the things she is worried about. "'I'm worried about a lot of things if Trump is re-elected. That is one of them," she told ABC News. She said that NATO was a 75-year success story and Russia has never invaded a NATO member-nation as Moscow has been "very intimidated" by this alliance.
"We have to make sure that we stand firm. Because when we stand firm with our friends, our enemies stay on their heels. When we start to show any weakening of those alliances, that's when our enemies move. That's why we're seeing China on the march. That's why we're seeing Iran want to build a nuclear bomb. That's why we're seeing Russia start to move towards Poland and the Baltics," she said.
"And that's what I promise I will do as president, is we not only will strengthen NATO, we will strengthen alliances with India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines. We will add to the fold. This is about America having more friends, not less friends," Haley added, asserting that even China was intimidated by NATO.
Haley on Trump's NATO remarks
Trump recently raised a storm of criticism from the White House and top Western officials for suggesting he would not defend NATO allies who failed to spend enough on defence and would even encourage Russia to attack them. Shocked by Trump's earlier remarks on NATO, the governments of Poland, France and Germany vowed to make Europe a security and defense power with a greater ability to back Ukraine, amid concerns that the ex-US President might allow Moscow to expand its aggression.
Haley slammed Trump's remarks as "bone-chilling" and accused him of empowering Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the current Russia-Ukraine war. "We need to remind the American people that Vladimir Putin is not our friend. Vladimir Putin is not cool. This is not someone we want to associate with. This is not someone that we want to be friends with," she said.
The former UN Ambassador also mentioned that Putin is someone who kills his political opponents and a "thug that arrests American journalists and holds them hostage". "We have to start waking up to what this means. That's why the importance of making sure that Ukraine wins is clear because we have to prevent further war. Right now, Putin is feeling more emboldened than he ever has," Haley added.
She also slammed Biden for failing on multiple points and making the US more isolationist. “That has emboldened our enemies. That's why you see them moving. It happened after the fall of Afghanistan. It is continuing to happen. Then they go and they see the other opponent running for - for president and they see that he doesn't worry about Putin invading Ukraine. So, what does Putin do? He goes and now he's starting to put soldiers around the Baltics. He's moving in for the next era,” she said.
Haley vs Trump
Haley's chances of edging out Trump to become the GOP candidate against Biden are very narrow, after she skipped the Nevada caucuses and suffered defeats in the last two caucuses held in Iowa and New Hampshire. She also suffered an embarrassing defeat by the "none of the candidates" options chosen by Trump supporters and voters in the symbolic Republican primary.
Haley's team had spent considerable energy in recent days trying to manage expectations in Nevada, where opinion polls had consistently shown her trailing Trump by wide margins, even by the standards of a modern Republican Party dominated by the former president. The two are preparing for the next caucus in South Carolina, Haley's home state and also where she is trailing Trump.
(with inputs from agencies)
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