American commitment to Nato is “unwavering” says US vice president Mike Pence
American vice president Mike Pence has told world leaders the US would remain committed to Nato, after President Donald Trump questioned the worth of the military alliance.
Pence offered “unwavering” commitment to Nato and said the US “is now and will always be your greatest ally” to delegates including German chancellor Angela Merkel at a security conference in Munich. However, he also said failure to financially commit to Nato "erodes the foundation" of the alliance.
Trump has previously hit out at countries not contributing two per cent of their GDP to the military alliance. However, in January UK Prime Minister Theresa May extracted a “100 per cent” commitment from Trump to Nato.
Read more: Is Donald Trump right that Nato is obsolete?
Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is seen by the UK government as a vital part of Britain's post-Brexit influence globally.
Pence also sought to defend the US’s new relationship with Russia, which plunged the new administration into chaos with the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn was revealed to have had contact with Russia before the Trump administration took office.
Pence said: “The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable even as we search for new common ground which as you know President Trump believes can be found.”
Trump has repeatedly expressed his admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has made it clear he wants to work with Putin in fighting Isis in Iraq and Syria.
Pence described the “savagery unseen since the Middle Ages” of the Isis forces, while reiterating “the United States will fight tirelessly to crush these enemies.”
Read more: UK will play bigger role in Nato after Brexit, says defence secretary
However, he also criticised Nato’s tactics on the issue, saying it “must build upon its 20th century tactics and continue to evolve” with a higher focus on counter-terrorism.
The remarks came after former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain heavily criticised the new administration, stridently attacking protectionism and nationalism. Trump has previously dismissed McCain's war record.
In a very thinly veiled attack McCain said the “growing inability, and even unwillingness, to separate truth from lies” was alarming.
He also criticised the revival of “beggar-thy-neighbor protectionism, and the poverty that imposed” as well as the “misery of “blood-and-soil nationalism, or spheres of influence, or conquest of the weak by the strong.”
McCain also pointedly thanked German chancellor Angela Merkel for its “absolutely vital role” as “the conscience of the West”.