Sweden should become NATO member 'as soon as possible': White House

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - The US believes that Sweden should become a NATO member "as soon as possible without delay," White House said Wednesday.

Speaking at her briefing, White House Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden will continue to be "very clear about that".

"We continue to communicate that with Turkey, but I just don't have a timeline to share," she said when asked whether Sweden gets the green light before next month's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

"We are still hopeful that this will get done," she added.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke about Sweden's NATO membership process on the presidential plane while returning from his first foreign tour to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan, respectively.

"Where is NATO's counter-terrorism leg? NATO has to deal with this once. After having not dealt with this, we cannot treat them (Sweden) as the blue-eyed boy in Vilnius," Erdogan said.

Erdogan called on Stockholm to step up the police force to prevent PKK terrorists from operating in Sweden.

- Importance of diplomacy with China

The US will continue its talks with the People's Republic of China to resolve the problems, Jean-Pierre said.

China will continue to be a major player on the world stage, and will continue to "take provocative steps," she said and added the US believes that "intense competition requires intense diplomacy."

The spokeswoman noted that it is the responsible thing to do to manage tensions and clear up misperceptions with China, and it is in the interest of the US to try and figure out a way to work together with the Beijing administration.