NATO chief warns allies against undermining nuke deterrent

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned allies on Wednesday that they "should do nothing to undermine" the alliance's nuclear deterrent amidst the fallout from former US president Donald Trump's comments on the presidential campaign trail.

For decades NATO has a nuclear deterrent that works for the Western military alliance, Stoltenberg said. "We should continue to ensure that it remains safe and reliable," he said.

With Trump questioning NATO's core tenet - that an attack on one ally is an attack on all of them - in connection with defence spending commitments, some politicians have called for European countries to explore their own nuclear deterrence.

Stoltenberg cautioned against such as move, highlighting that NATO's existing nuclear deterrent is based on "agreed procedures for command" involving US nuclear weapons and other NATO allies providing transport and logistics.

"Also, of course, that we have two other allies with nuclear weapons, the United Kingdom and France," he said.

"This is the way we organize our nuclear deterrent in NATO, and we should do nothing to undermine the credibility of that either," he added.

The German government on Wednesday said it continues to rely on NATO's existing deterrent capabilities, referring to French and British as well as American nuclear weapons.

"NATO exists, we believe in NATO and also in all the guarantees of support associated with NATO," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

"This does not relieve us of the task of constantly checking whether we are in the right position and what decisions we need to make for the future."

Hebestreit also warned against "overestimating statements made by men and women who are in an election campaign and are also vying for attention."

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently spoke out in favour of more cooperation with France and the UK on nuclear deterrence.

"French President Emmanuel Macron has made various offers of cooperation," the leader of the pro-business Free Democrats wrote in a guest article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published on Tuesday.

"We should understand Donald Trump's recent statements as an invitation to continue thinking about this element of European security under the umbrella of NATO."