INDOPACOM Head: There’s Link Between Authoritarian Powers ‘We Haven’t Seen’ in ‘Long, Long Time’

During an interview with “PBS NewsHour” Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent Nick Schifrin aired on Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” outgoing Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Adm. John Aquilino stated that we’re seeing a linkage between authoritarian countries in a manner “that we haven’t seen in our history in a long, long time.”

After discussing ties between China and Russia, Schifrin asked, “North Korea has supplied Russia with short-range ballistic missiles, in addition to more than a million artillery shells. … Are you concerned this is a two-way street, that North Korean missiles, which are not particularly good, get tested, get battle-tested in Ukraine by Russia and therefore could destabilize the peninsula?”

Aquilino answered, “Absolutely. First of all, when you talk about the authoritarian nations, no one ever does anything to help anybody else for the goodness of the other person. There is a quid pro quo that applies. So, we are concerned about the access to increased technology in North Korea. But the main theme that’s really concerning here and that everyone has to see, it links authoritarian nations in ways that hasn’t — that we haven’t seen in our history in a long, long time.”

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