WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense chief James Mattis said that the United States will stand by European allies and the NATO members on Monday en route to Finland.
Mattis said the visit to Finland is an opportunity to reiterate the United States' commitment "if any nation, including Russia, seeks to undermine the rules-based international order."
"And we do have a lot of shared values, about sovereignty... most of you know some of the history of Finland or a lot, and how they've had to fight to hang on to their freedom, their territory, self-determination," Mattis said.
He added that he will discuss with his counterparts of European nations and NATO members how to boost the collective ability for self-defense and the NATO collective defense.
In Finland, he is scheduled to attend a meeting with the Northern Group, a multilateral forum of 12 countries, including the five Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Norway), the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom from Nov. 6-7.
In his next stop at Brussels from Nov. 8-9, Mattis will attend a NATO Defense Ministerial and, separately, host a meeting of ministers from the "Defeat-ISIS" coalition, in a bid to discuss the next-step operation against Islamic State.
In his last stop in London, the U.S. secretary of defense will meet with his British counterpart David Williamson to "make certain that the commitment to the U.K.-U.S. alliance is very firm."
The U.S. Department of Defense said Friday that Mattis' visit aims to "re-affirm key partnerships and alliances in Europe."
