U.S. Senator Chris Murphy was in Bucharest on Saturday on a short visit during which he met with President Nicusor Dan and with Defense Minister Angel Tilvar, in a bid to strengthen bilateral relations and discuss security aspects related to regional support for Ukraine's war effort with Russia.

In a discussion with the press at the residence of the U.S. ambassador in Bucharest, Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, remarked that he is the first American official to meet with President Nicusor Dan.

The senator explained that one of the reasons for his presence in Europe, both in Paris and Bucharest, is to discuss ways to 'increase defense production capability in Europe, so that Europe can fill as much as possible of the gap if President Trump decides to cease military funding and military support for Ukraine.' He stressed that the defense industrial base within NATO and the transatlantic partnership needs to be developed.

'I'm glad to hear that there are discussions here in Romania about how they can do more defense production. I think that would be helpful for the United States, helpful for the Alliance, and helpful for Ukraine,' Chris Murphy said.

The Democrat lawmaker stressed that support to Ukraine at this time is now more important than ever, and the partnership between the U.S. and Romania 'is bigger, more robust, more important than ever.' He noted that Romania is a 'great host' for the 'sizeable contingent of U.S. soldiers,' emphasizing that this 'sends a clear signal to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin that we are not going to stand for his aggression, that we are going to make sure that the Black Sea is still open for business and that should happen.' 'If Putin decides to engage in provocations beyond Ukraine, we will be here to stand with our allies,' the Democrat senator said.

This visit was intended to assess the scope of this partnership and its importance for the new leadership in Bucharest 'through Ukrainian eyes,' with Murphy stressing that this is an important topic for the U.S. and that he 'will go back to Washington with some ideas for how to continue to support it.'

Regarding the solidity of the Romania - U.S. partnership, the Democrat senator estimated that 'all signs indicate that it is still very strong'. In this context, he referenced the 'constructive' telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Nicusor Dan and the fact that there continues to be a dialogue between the American administration and the Romanian government.

Chris Murphy expressed his hope that Romania will soon have a government and that President Nicusor Dan will make it a priority to visit the U.S., where 'a lot of the Democrat's colleagues (...) will be eager to help this new government in the work to promote our collective security and help grow the economic partnership.'

Asked about the aforementioned U.S. interests in the Black Sea, Murphy replied that while the Black Sea is obviously a challenge in the context of the war, 'the United States has a major presence, an increased presence here in Romania in order to help protect the Black Sea and at the very least continue to enforce agreements that allow for grain to flow out of Ukraine.'

He made it clear that an increased American presence was never intended to be permanent, nor will it be so. But for now, especially 'while the Black Sea remains a theater of war, we need to have a strong presence here.'

Regarding the possibilities of defense cooperation, the politician mentioned that an emergency would be ammunition and artillery, because 'the U.S. doesn't have the capacity to produce as much as Ukraine and our allies need'.

The American senator said that he considers the development of the economic partnership between the U.S. and Romania to be very important. He highlighted the fact that, in the dialogue with President Nicusor Dan, he also discussed how these partnerships can be increased in general, and especially in high-tech, a sector that he described as being really burgeoning in Romania.

Asked about Romania's inclusion in the Visa Waver Program, Murphy said that he was surprised by the Trump administration's move to reverse the decision for Romania to participate and estimated that this is broadly in line with the current Washington administration's strategy regarding immigration. However, he believes that Romania qualifies for the program and should be part of it.

Murphy stressed that the Washington administration has stated that it does not shut down the possibility that Romania is still eligible and can still go through the process, and that the administration continues to work to make the necessary reviews.

'I'm certainly going to return to Washington and advocate to my Republican colleagues that they should help us press the administration to reverse the decision of earlier this year and restore Romania's ability to be in the Visa Waiver Program,' the Democrat senator said.

Asked about his position on the possibility of the U.S. joining Israel in its war with Iran, Senator Murphy replied that the U.S. president cannot adopt military measures abroad without the authorization of Congress, a forum in which he estimated that there will be a 'robust' debate on this issue and opined that it would be difficult for the president to obtain congressional approval.

'Often, when President Trump says that he's postponing a decision for two weeks, it's a signal that he's postponing it permanently. So I don't know what the president will decide, but my hope is that he does not drag us into another war in the Middle East. I do not think there's support for that in the United States. Yet I think that the American people are used to being given fairly rosy predictions about how military action will go. And then it turns out that a lot of American lives and a lot of America money are the cost. So once again, what's important to know is that our Constitution actually doesn't allow the president to make the decision on his own. The law says he has to come to Congress for an authorization,' Murphy said.

The U.S. senator pointed out that there is generally a prohibition against big powers engaging in preemptive strikes against other nations outside of an immediate threat of conflict, and added that the U.S. has paid a very high price in every way, from lives lost to treasury spent and reputational damage in the Iraq war.

Regarding the repercussions that a decision to support Israel against Iran would have on China's intentions towards Taiwan, Murphy said there is no doubt that President Xi Jinping has plans to reoccupy Taiwan, but he stressed that part of the reason he and many of his colleagues see it is so important to defend Ukraine is that they know 'China is watching.' 'If Putin doesn't pay any price for his invasion, if he's handed Ukraine on a platter, then it absolutely expedites Beijing's timetable, as they consider plans to invade or reoccupy Taiwan.'

The senator estimated that 'China wins when we are fighting wars that are very hard to find victory in, as the wars in the Middle East are.' China is 'the global pacing threat to the U.S. and Europe, and we need to remember that as we are making decisions about how deeply to get dragged into conflicts in the Middle East region,' he commented in this context.

Asked about the competition that China represents for the U.S. in the Persian Gulf region, Chris Murphy estimated that 'although China has growing relationships in the Middle East, they don't want to be a security guarantor for the Gulf, like the United States is implicitly willing to do.'

The U.S. senator considers China a 'free rider' in the Middle East. As the U.S. generally becomes less dependent on Middle East oil, Washington ends up providing security for Chinese oil, he said. 'And so it's an interesting situation in which the American government and the U.S. taxpayers are spending billions of dollars to make it really easy for China to move oil from the Middle East across the world,' Chris Murphy concluded. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Raluca-Elena Anghel; EN - editing by: Simona Klodnischi)