President Andrzej Duda meets Biden after visiting Prime Minister Tusk and Congress
Demand for increased military spending on the Eastern Front and Ukraine to stop the Russian advance
“If Poland becomes the front line, European and U.S. forces will also have to participate in the war.”
[워싱턴=AP/뉴시스] Polish President Andrzej Duda is holding a press conference outside after meeting with President Biden at the White House on the 12th. He called for weapons support for Ukraine and increased military spending for NATO, while discussing Poland’s position on the eastern front line and the possibility of escalation of the war. 2024. 03. 13.
[서울=뉴시스] Reporter Cha Mirye = Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the White House with his political opponent, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on the 12th (local time) and requested a significant increase in defense spending by NATO members and greater support for Ukraine, which is currently in a military crisis. American media outlets, including the Associated Press, reported that this was requested.
President Andrzej requested President Biden to urgently overcome differences of opinion and expand support in Washington politics, where pros and cons are still at odds, especially regarding support for Ukraine, which is currently in a critical moment of crisis.
Poland, celebrating its 25th anniversary of joining NATO, is concerned about military threats from Russia and plans to ask U.S. President Joe Biden to expand military support, President Andrzej announced the day before.
Specifically, requests included additional deployment of troops, rapid delivery of military equipment, and sale of more advanced weapons.
Bloomberg News reported that the reason that political rivals President Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk attended together is because although the two have clashed over public media reform and guaranteeing judicial independence, they agree on national defense.
Poland has been focusing on strengthening its defense capabilities amid growing threats from Russia targeting Europe and concerns about Ukraine’s defense capabilities.
Poland plans to spend 4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense this year, the highest among NATO members. NATO member countries have a defense spending target of 2% of GDP, but many fall short of 2%.
Last year, the United States invested $10 billion (about 14.1 trillion won), including $12 billion (about 15.7 trillion won) worth of Apache helicopters and related equipment and 18 High-Speed Mobile Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). Approved sale of large-scale weapons to Poland.
Poland borders Ukraine and has been exposed to direct and indirect damage after the outbreak of Russia’s war of aggression in 2022. In particular, there are concerns that NATO, a collective defense system, could be directly involved in a war if Poland, NATO’s eastern front line, is attacked by Russia. .
At the meeting that day, President Biden praised Poland for its current large defense spending and especially thanked Poland for hosting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees immediately after the Russian invasion in February 2022.
President Biden quoted U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when Poland joined NATO in the past, saying, “When we stand together, we will be a more powerful alliance than any military force on earth,” and added, “I said that then and now. “I believe in it,” he said.
He also said that the Polish and U.S. forces will continue to stand side by side in the eastern region of the NATO alliance, including Poland.
[워싱턴 =AP/뉴시스] Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk holds a press conference outside the West Wing of the White House after meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House along with Polish President Andrzej Duda on March 12 (local time). 2024 03. 13.
However, just before this meeting, senior officials in the Biden administration said that President Duda’s increase in NATO defense spending was an excessively high amount that would be difficult to realize for the time being.
“The first step is for all member countries to cross the 2 percent defense spending threshold, and we are already seeing signs of that improvement,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “This is important,” he commented.
However, the U.S. Department of Defense announced on the 12th that some cost savings have been confirmed in recent defense contracts and that it will provide emergency support of $300 million (394.35 billion won) worth of weapons to Ukraine in the future.
This is the first time that the Biden administration has mentioned military or weapons support for the war in Ukraine since the military support budget was rejected by Congress in December last year.
President Duda said in a speech to Congress before visiting the White House that day, “If the United States does not provide military support to Ukraine to stop the advance of the Russian army, then Poland will be on the front lines in the east. If that happens, eventually the U.S. and European troops will end up on the front line.” “We will have no choice but to go into battle,” he threatened bluntly.
“If you think about the amount of support you would pay if the war escalates and NATO members are attacked, you will see that financial support to Ukraine now is much lower cost and cheaper,” he said.
He told reporters after his speech in parliament that lawmakers responded positively when he asked for an increase in NATO military spending.
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