“If Russia prevails in Ukraine, it’s not about Europe. It’s not about one region," she said. “It will send a very clear signal also to smaller states here in Indo-Pacific that anyone can ignore their borders, that any fabricated excuse can justify invasion.”
The comments echoed those from French President Emmanuel Macron as he opened the conference on Friday advocating for greater European engagement in the Indo-Pacific.
On Saturday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested European countries should focus their defense efforts in their own region and leave the Indo-Pacific more to the U.S., but Šakalienė said the regions were clearly intertwined.
“It's not a secret that when we talk about the main perpetrators in cyber security against Japan it's China, Russia and North Korea,” she said.