Concern over top US no-show at Nato forum
A DECISION by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to miss his first meeting with Nato foreign ministers has unsettled European allies, who fear the no-show reopens questions about US President Donald Trump’s commitment to the alliance.
It was reported on Monday that Tillerson would stay at home to attend Trump’s expected talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida on April 6 and 7, skipping the Nato talks on April 5 and 6.
US officials also said Tillerson would visit Russia later next month.
“No matter how you spin it, this is unfortunate symbolism,” one senior European diplomat said.
The move undid the work of Trump’s defence minister and vice-president, who visited Nato headquarters in Brussels in February, to provide reassurances after Trump’s criticism of the alliance.
During his campaign and on the eve of taking office, Trump called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation obsolete, although he has since said he supports the alliance. Some allies, particularly in the former Soviet bloc, are sensitive to any sign of waning US interest in their defence as they deal with a more assertive Russia.
European allies said concerns that Trump was too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the West has sought to isolate for annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, made Tillerson’s expected visit to Brussels all the more pressing.
Tillerson worked with Russia’s government for years as a top executive at massive oil company Exxon Mobil, and has questioned sanctions against Moscow that he said could harm US businesses.
“We needed to hear his vision for the alliance,” a diplomat due to attend the April ministerial said.
Nato’s quarterly meetings are closed-door sessions in which governments discuss security strategies and approve top-secret documents designed to guide the nuclear-armed alliance in areas ranging from training in Afghanistan to defences against Iranian missiles.
Given the United States’ role as the de facto head of the alliance, it is rare for the top diplomat of the US to miss a Nato meeting. The last time was during the Iraq war in 2003, when Colin Powell was forced to cancel at the last moment.
A Nato official said in Brussels it was up to the allies to decide at what level they were represented, and referred further questions to the US State Department.
Two diplomats said US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon, who served under President Barack Obama and who has stayed on under Trump, was expected to represent the US at next month’s Nato meeting.
Trump is expected in Brussels for a Nato summit in May, although the date is still under discussion.
A senior French diplomat said the US State Department still seemed to be in a state of transition.
“We still don’t see the role of the State Department in the new administration,” the diplomat said.
“Tillerson has been discreet, and a great number of posts have not been filled, so the modus operandi is still in limbo.”
Several diplomats said they were unhappy that Tillerson had not offered to hold a Nato meeting in Washington this week, given that 26 alliance foreign ministers and Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg were there for a meeting of the coalition against the Islamic State militant group.