Original NYT article (paywalled)
If Chinese leader Xi Jinping decides to attack Taiwan, he could ask Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to start a war in Europe to distract the United States.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this in an interview with New York Times.
“If Xi Jinping were to attack Taiwan, he would first call his junior partner about it and tell him, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this, and I need you to distract them in Europe by attacking NATO territory.’ That’s probably exactly what will happen,” Rutte said.
He noted that this proves once again how interconnected the destinies of Europe, the Atlantic, the Arctic and the Indo-Pacific are.
He said this is why the defense of territories and strategic cooperation between NATO and Indo-Pacific countries should be strengthened.
There was no financial (or much any) sense to attack Ukraine either. It might be on their to-do list for attention alternatives for internal problems. Also it could be (and probably is) ideological thing as well.
There’s very much a financial reason. It’s also highly ideological.
Russia has coveted Ukraine for a very long time.