The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issued a statement on June 26 that the North Atlantic Council decided to appoint Dutch Prime Minister Rutte as the new NATO Secretary-General, who will succeed the current Secretary-General Stoltenberg in October this year.
NATO is the largest military bloc in the world today. The NATO Secretary General is a very active figure with strong geopolitical overtones, and understanding Rutte is of great significance for observing and judging NATO's movements in the future.
First, the basic situation of Rutte
Born on February 14, 1967 in The Hague, Netherlands, Rutte, whose full name is Mark Rutte, is unmarried and childless and graduated from the Department of History at Leiden University. He is the eldest son in the family, the seventh in line, and has not had an affair so far, and is nicknamed "the most boring" politician and "golden bachelor" by the Dutch.
After a long career as an adult, he worked for Unilever before entering politics in 2002 as State Secretary at the Ministry of Social Undertakings and Employment, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, and Chairman of the Liberal Democratic People's Party (FDP) in the Second House of Parliament. In 2006, he became the leader of the center-right party, the Liberal Democratic Party, where he navigated the complex political landscape with a pragmatic style and played a major role in shaping the party's policies and strategies. He was first elected Prime Minister of the Netherlands on October 14, 2010, and was re-elected in 2012, 2017, and 2022, becoming the longest-serving government leader in the history of the Netherlands. Over the past 14 years, he has led various coalition governments to deal with the European debt crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the resulting energy crisis, while building a reputation and influence in the EU political environment. In January 2016, the Netherlands became the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and Rutte became the rotating presidency of the Council.
2. Rutte's tenure
NATO's secretary-general is generally a head of state or government, and appointments require the unanimous consent of all 32 member states. Rutte announced his intention to become NATO secretary general in November last year, and subsequently received support from major NATO members such as the United States, Britain, France, and Germany.
However, Hungary, Romania, Turkey and other countries have expressed opposition. In April, Rutte traveled to Turkey for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who negotiated Turkey's support. Then Rutte gave some explanations to Hungarian Prime Minister Orban on issues such as military aid to Ukraine. In mid-June, Orban reversed his mind, promising that Hungary would not veto NATO aid to Ukraine and supporting Rutte's candidacy for NATO secretary general. Subsequently, Rutte's final opponent, Romanian President Iohannis, withdrew from the race. The Slovak president, who had previously opposed Rutte's appointment, turned to him out of desperation.
In the end, Rutte won. Caretaker Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg immediately extended a warm welcome, praising Rutte as "a true transatlanticist, a strong leader and a consensus builder...... I knew I would put NATO in the hands of reliable people. ”
3. Rutte's challenges
The NATO Secretary-General, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Europe are the most important figures in NATO. The Secretary-General coordinates the work of the Alliance and presides over the meetings of the North Atlantic Council and most of the Main Committees except the Military Commission.
According to foreign news reports, Rutte has rich political and diplomatic experience, and in the process of leading different multi-party coalition governments in the Netherlands, he has demonstrated high communication skills and the ability to work together vertically and horizontally, and has extensive contacts in European and American political circles. However, NATO seems to be monolithic, but in fact it is full of internal contradictions. Rutte faced a number of challenges in taking office, including, according to Western media reports:
First, how can NATO continue to assist Ukraine? On June 14, a meeting of NATO defense ministers approved a plan for NATO to coordinate military assistance and training to Ukraine, replacing the "International Contact Group on Ukraine's Defense," which is currently responsible for the above. The plan will be officially launched at the NATO summit in Washington, so Rutte will have a heavy task in coordinating military aid to Ukraine.
Second, in the face of the ever-expanding contradictions between NATO and Russia, how does Rutte coordinate and lead NATO to further strengthen its "eastern flank defense capability"? This includes increasing military deployments in the Baltic states and Poland, improving rapid reaction force capabilities, and ensuring NATO's "deterrence" and "defense capability" in Eastern Europe.
Third, how to adapt to and comply with the uncertainty of the U.S. presidential election? The essence of NATO is a military tool for the United States to dominate the world. With the presidential election set to be held in the United States at the end of this year, it is difficult to determine whether the current President Joe Biden will be re-elected, or if former President Trump will return to the White House? Given the apparently different attitudes of Byrce and Tee towards NATO and the Russia-Ukraine war, this will be a very tricky challenge for Rutte, who has just taken office.
4. Rutte's attitude towards the Russian-Ukrainian war
Rutte, a fierce critic of Russia's military strikes on Ukraine and a staunch ally of Ukraine, has made it clear that supporting Ukraine is good for Europe's security and prosperity and that Ukraine "can count on our support, now and in the future."
The Netherlands was the first country to announce the provision of F16 fighters to Ukraine, and it was also the initiator of the multinational alliance of F16 fighters to provide Ukraine with F16 fighters, taking the lead in providing Ukraine with the "Patriot" air defense system and providing more than 3 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine. Currently, Ukrainian pilots are being trained in Romania using F-16 fighters supplied by the Netherlands.
In early March this year, Rutte visited the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as the prime minister of the Netherlands, and took the lead in signing a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine. According to the agreement, this year the Netherlands will provide 2 billion euros of military aid to Ukraine, accelerate the assistance to Ukraine with 42 F-16 fighters, 22 patrol boats and 3 combat boats, as well as military materials such as radars and howitzers, and help in promoting the modernization of Ukraine's security and defense forces, enhancing the interoperability of the Ukrainian army and NATO forces, and giving priority to solving the urgent needs of Ukraine in air defense systems, artillery, long-range firepower, armored vehicles, etc.
5. Rutte's attitude towards China
During Rutte's tenure as prime minister of the Netherlands, his attitude towards the mainland was twofold, with both positive and negative measures, more positive and negative. Rutte loves Chinese culture, taught Chinese on his own, and has visited China 5 times. Since Rutte came to power, trade between China and the Netherlands has doubled, and the Netherlands has become China's second largest trading partner in the EU after Germany. In 2023, the trade volume between China and the Netherlands reached 107.2 billion US dollars.
Some officials have blamed China, saying trade with China has cost the Netherlands. Rutte was moderate and said he would consult with China. In the summer of 2022, the Dutch parliament had a bad attitude towards China's Xinjiang-related and Hong Kong-related issues, and some European countries set off a wave of "isolating China". In response to some EU countries' advocacy of decoupling from China, Rutte said that "decoupling and breaking the chain" with China is not a policy option for the Dutch government, and doing so "will also hurt itself". Rutte once said that the Netherlands cherishes the friendship between the Netherlands and China and adheres to the one-China principle.
However, Rutte has followed the steps of the United States in the economic and trade fields, restricting and suppressing China. Last year, the Netherlands did not hesitate to lose billions of euros to restrict the export of advanced lithography machines from ASML, the world's largest chipmaker, to China.
It is worth noting that as Rutte's position changes, so will his attitude towards the mainland. NATO is a military tool for the United States to dominate the world, and the US strategy toward China is to contain, suppress, and weaken it. According to foreign news reports, Rutte's policy and attitude towards China seem to have been adjusted. On the issue of dealing with the war between Russia and Ukraine, he previously said that China should use its influence to urge Russia to cease fire and withdraw its troops, and not long ago he echoed the outgoing NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, and accused China of helping Russia and paying the due price.
In this regard, the mainland should be highly vigilant!