Prepare for 'wartime scenario' — top NATO official tells businesses

A top military official with NATO has called on businesses to prepare for a "wartime scenario" by bringing their production lines back home instead of relying on China and elsewhere, which could shut off access after starting a war.

"Businesses need to be prepared for a wartime scenario and adjust their production and distribution lines accordingly. Because while it may be the military who wins battles, it's the economies that win wars," Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO's military committee, said on Monday in his address at an event organised by the European Policy Centre in the Belgian capital Brussels.

Stressing that deterrence is not only about military capacity but that all available tools can be used as weapons, he said: "We're seeing that with the growing number of sabotage acts, and Europe has seen that with energy supply."

"We thought we had a deal with (Russian energy company) Gazprom, but we actually had a deal with Mr. Putin," he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"And the same goes for Chinese-owned infrastructure and goods. We actually have a deal with (Chinese President) Xi (Jinping)."

Bauer also warned that businesses in Europe and the US must realise that their commercial decisions have strategic consequences for the security of their countries.