NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, chats to Polish President Andrzej Duda, center, and NATO's Military Committee Chairman Petr Pavel, right | Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images Czech general to Trump: ‘NATO is as relevant as ever’ Army General Petr Pavel said US president-elect is ‘absolutely justified’ to pressure members to pay their share.

No American president would dare renege on NATO treaty commitments, a top general said late Wednesday, responding to President-elect Donald Trump's suggestion that he may not defend fellow NATO members under attack.

Czech Army General Petr Pavel said NATO's Article 5 of mutual defense clause is unconditional for all members.

"The continuity of the transatlantic relationship, spanning almost 70 years, is simply so binding that no American president would dare be able to change it, and even not willing, because we understand on both sides of the Atlantic that NATO is as important to European allies as it is to North America and we have a treaty that is binding to all of us," Pavel, the chairman of NATO's military committee, told The Associated Press ahead of the Halifax International Security Forum.

Successive U.S. administrations have complained that NATO members do not contribute enough to NATO defense spending, leaving its most powerful member to foot the bill.

Pavel said it was "absolutely justified" for the U.S. to step up the pressure on members to meet their financial obligations, but like other members took offense to Trump's comments that the Alliance was obsolete.

He said, "NATO is as relevant as ever."

The Halifax International Security Forum, the first major national security gathering since Trump's election, will be dominated by discussions related to the new presidency, said its president.