Speaking to Bloomberg, Sikorski noted that Poland is now spending more than any other NATO nation on defense in relation to its GDP. "Poland spends four percent (of GDP) and we will spend five next year. We are number 1 in NATO, including the United States… because we are no longer in the era of eternal post-Cold War peace.”
However, despite Poland’s own generous spending, the minister cautioned against using military budgets as a barometer. Citing Iceland as an example, he noted that while it did not have an army, the nation was still an asset due to its strategic location.
“NATO is not a neighborhood security company,” Sikorski said, referring to former U.S. President Trump’s threat to withdraw military support from those that did not pay enough.
At the same time, he revealed that the Polish government was in dialogue with both Donald Trump’s team and President Biden’s.
Asked about Joe Biden’s gaffe-strewn appearance at the NATO summit, Sikorski insisted that “slip-ups happen”, adding that when Polish officials met the American president in March he was “focused, strategic, and quite humorous.”
With America’s political future up for debate, Sikorski admitted that dialogue between the Polish government and Trump was already underway: “We keep in touch with the administration,” said Sikorski, “and we keep in touch with the alternative administration as we do with any democracy.”
Sikorski continued: “I talk to Trump’s people and some of the things they tell me that they plan are interesting and creative.” The Foreign Minister also noted that President Andrzej Duda, “coming from the more Trumpian side of Polish politics”, had maintained contacts with Trump’s entourage from the very beginning.
Trump has become increasingly vocal about the need for NATO members to ramp up their defense spending, but while the bullish nature of his remarks has caused alarm in some quarters, Sikorski has taken a more enlightened view: “He was right to insist Allies spend more, even in style, because when other presidents did it politely, it didn’t work.”
On the subject of China, Sikorski said that despite its support of Russian industry, it had yet to cross the West’s “biggest red line” and had not sent weapons to aid Putin’s war effort.
Nonetheless, the Foreign Minister highlighted the importance of pressuring China: "Yes, China could call its vassal Putin to order and tell him to end this war. And that is the position we convey to the Chinese leadership," he said.
