Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and NATO Secretary General, discusses urgent global security concerns. He warns of a new world order centered around powerful autocracies and stresses the need for democracies to unite and invest in their defense. Rasmussen advocates for multilateral cooperation in Asia and highlights the dangerous consequences of collective weakness among democracies. He calls for reforms in the United Nations to better reflect contemporary power dynamics and the importance of rebuilding trust between nations.
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A New World Order
Anders Fogh Rasmussen worries about a new world order where might makes right, dominated by Washington, Beijing, and Moscow.
He fears this will leave Taiwan, Ukraine, and Europe vulnerable as these power centers prioritize their own spheres of influence.
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Advice for Asian Democracies
Rasmussen suggests Asian democracies should invest more in their defense and collaborate on security and trade like Europe.
Individual countries must show commitment to security through increased defense spending and closer cooperation.
insights INSIGHT
Trust Diplomacy
Rasmussen defines "trust diplomacy" as relying on alliances and partnerships, trusting allies will help when needed.
He questions the trustworthiness of the United States under Trump, impacting the reliability of this approach.
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Anders Fogh Rasmussen is former Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-2009) and Secretary General of NATO (2009-2014). He’s Chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation.
We sat down with Rasmussen this week at Yushan Forum, the annual summit organized by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation.
Rasmussen is worried about a new world order “where might makes right… a world order with three power centers: one in Washington, one in Beijing, and one in Moscow. That's what concerns me the most, and I will devote the rest of my life to counter that world order.”
In Asia and in the Indo-Pacific, he’s looking to see more multilateral approaches on security and trade. “I would also like to see a bigger investment in your own defense,” he says, referring to Taiwan. “That's what we have concluded in Europe, and I think the same conclusion goes for Asia, that each individual country must demonstrate a clear commitment to its own security by increasing defense investment and by cooperating closer together.”
He warns of the consequence of a collective weakness if democracies don’t support each other. “If Putin gets success in Ukraine because of our weakness, it would send an extremely dangerous signal to autocrats in other parts of the world: Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un…”
He spoke of the need for a reform of the United Nations. “The United Nations reflect the world as it was in 1945 with the United States as really, a dominant power. But since then, other powers have risen, like Germany in Europe, like Japan in Asia, like Brazil in South America… In the current [UN] Security Council, Russia and China have so called veto, right? So they can block all decisions in the United Nations that go against their interest, and that makes the United Nations useless, because we cannot pass any resolution. So I think we need a reform of the United Nations, but as it requires the consent of both Russia and China, it's more or less impossible in the short term. So yes, long term, we should reform the United Nations. Short term, we have to deal with what we do have.”
In the last 5 minutes of the episode we play Rasmussen’s full speech at Yushan Forum.
To see the full opening ceremony, see here. This includes speeches by Taiwan’s President Dr. Lai Ching-te, former Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Slovenia Janex Janša, Member of the Japanese House of Presentatives in the Diet Keiji Furuya, Director of the American Institute in Taiwan Raymond Greene, as well as Chairman of the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, Dr. Michael Hsiao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ2qq_dLmn4
The Taiwan Take