Anders Fogh Rasmussen is former Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-2009) and Secretary General of NATO (2009-2014). He’s Chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation.

We sat down with Rasmussen this week at Yushan Forum, the annual summit organized by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation. This conversation was recorded on March 17, 2025.

Rasmussen is worried about a new world order “where might makes right… a world order with three power centers: one in Washington, one in Beijing, and one in Moscow. That's what concerns me the most, and I will devote the rest of my life to counter that world order.”

In Asia and in the Indo-Pacific, he’s looking to see more multilateral approaches on security and trade. “I would also like to see a bigger investment in your own defense,” he says, referring to Taiwan. “That's what we have concluded in Europe, and I think the same conclusion goes for Asia, that each individual country must demonstrate a clear commitment to its own security by increasing defense investment and by cooperating closer together.”

He warns of the consequence of a collective weakness if democracies don’t support each other. “If Putin gets success in Ukraine because of our weakness, it would send an extremely dangerous signal to autocrats in other parts of the world: Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un…” 

He spoke of the need for a reform of the United Nations. “The United Nations reflect the world as it was in 1945 with the United States as really, a dominant power. But since then, other powers have risen, like Germany in Europe, like Japan in Asia, like Brazil in South America… In the current [UN] Security Council, Russia and China have so called veto, right? So they can block all decisions in the United Nations that go against their interest, and that makes the United Nations useless, because we cannot pass any resolution. So I think we need a reform of the United Nations, but as it requires the consent of both Russia and China, it's more or less impossible in the short term. So yes, long term, we should reform the United Nations. Short term, we have to deal with what we do have.”

In the last 5 minutes of the episode we play Rasmussen’s full speech at Yushan Forum. 

To see the full opening ceremony, see here. This includes speeches by Taiwan’s President Dr. Lai Ching-te, former Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Slovenia Janex Janša, Member of the Japanese House of Presentatives in the Diet Keiji Furuya, Director of the American Institute in Taiwan Raymond Greene, as well as Chairman of the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, Dr. Michael Hsiao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ2qq_dLmn4

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A Ghost Island Media production: www.ghostisland.media

Anders Fogh Rasmussen is former Prime Minister of Denmark (2001-2009) and Secretary General of NATO (2009-2014). He&rsquo;s Chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. We sat down with Rasmussen this week at Yushan Forum, the annual summit organized by Taiwan&rsquo;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation. This conversation was recorded on March 17, 2025. Rasmussen is worried about a new world order &ldquo;where might makes right&hellip; a world order with three power centers: one in Washington, one in Beijing, and one in Moscow. That's what concerns me the most, and I will devote the rest of my life to counter that world order.&rdquo; In Asia and in the Indo-Pacific, he&rsquo;s looking to see more multilateral approaches on security and trade. &ldquo;I would also like to see a bigger investment in your own defense,&rdquo; he says, referring to Taiwan. &ldquo;That's what we have concluded in Europe, and I think the same conclusion goes for Asia, that each individual country must demonstrate a clear commitment to its own security by increasing defense investment and by cooperating closer together.&rdquo; He warns of the consequence of a collective weakness if democracies don&rsquo;t support each other. &ldquo;If Putin gets success in Ukraine because of our weakness, it would send an extremely dangerous signal to autocrats in other parts of the world: Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un&hellip;&rdquo;&nbsp; He spoke of the need for a reform of the United Nations. &ldquo;The United Nations reflect the world as it was in 1945 with the United States as really, a dominant power. But since then, other powers have risen, like Germany in Europe, like Japan in Asia, like Brazil in South America&hellip; In the current [UN] Security Council, Russia and China have so called veto, right? So they can block all decisions in the United Nations that go against their interest, and that makes the United Nations useless, because we cannot pass any resolution. So I think we need a reform of the United Nations, but as it requires the consent of both Russia and China, it's more or less impossible in the short term. So yes, long term, we should reform the United Nations. Short term, we have to deal with what we do have.&rdquo; In the last 5 minutes of the episode we play Rasmussen&rsquo;s full speech at Yushan Forum.&nbsp; To see the full opening ceremony, see here. This includes speeches by Taiwan&rsquo;s President Dr. Lai Ching-te, former Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Slovenia Janex Jan&scaron;a, Member of the Japanese House of Presentatives in the Diet Keiji Furuya, Director of the American Institute in Taiwan Raymond Greene, as well as Chairman of the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, Dr. Michael Hsiao:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ2qq_dLmn4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ2qq_dLmn4</a> Support us by donating on Patreon&nbsp;<a href="http://patreon.com/taiwan">http://patreon.com/taiwan</a> Follow and tag us on social media: Ghost Island Media | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ghostislandme/">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ghostislandme/">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ghostislandme">Twitter</a> Emily Y. Wu | Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/emilyywu">@emilyywu</a> A Ghost Island Media production:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ghostisland.media">www.ghostisland.media</a>

A current affairs podcast on Taiwan and the world. Every episode, we invite a journalist to a conversation with an expert to get the big picture context of what we need to know. These are global issues, and this is The Taiwan Take. 

Nominated for Best News Podcast at 2020 Excellent Journalism Award in Taiwan. Produced by Ghost Island Media in Taipei, Taiwan.

2020年台灣卓越新聞獎 Podcast 新聞獎入圍者．這是一個專門討論臺灣時事的訪談性英文節目， 以「縱觀世界議題，以臺灣觀點論述」為主軸，由記者採訪跨領域專家、名人與來賓等，第一手將臺灣的故事推向國際．

鬼島之音製作播出．

A current affairs podcast on Taiwan and the world. Every episode, we invite a journalist to a conversation with an expert to get the big picture context of what we need to know. These are global issues, and this is The Taiwan Take. Nominated for Best News Podcast at 2020 Excellent Journalism Award in Taiwan.&nbsp;Produced by Ghost Island Media in Taipei, Taiwan. 2020年台灣卓越新聞獎 Podcast 新聞獎入圍者．這是一個專門討論臺灣時事的訪談性英文節目， 以「縱觀世界議題，以臺灣觀點論述」為主軸，由記者採訪跨領域專家、名人與來賓等，第一手將臺灣的故事推向國際． 鬼島之音製作播出．

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