This is the question that some people are now asking. Nato countries are planning to expand their area of cooperation with Asian countries. This was stated at a recent meeting of the Alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels.
We are used to talking about NATO’s enlargement to the east, but this time we are talking about East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. The ministers who met discussed the possibility of expanding the Alliance’s area of responsibility. In the 21st century, NATO sees China as its new threat. The NATO 2030: United for a New Era report, published in 2021, which forms the basis for a new Alliance strategy, stated that China should be seen not only as an economic partner or an actor in the Asian security sector, but rather as a strategic rival in its own right.
The invitation to Brussels of the foreign ministers of the Asia-Pacific countries (Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand) confirms NATO’s “turn to the East”, which was to be laid down in the Alliance’s new Strategic Concept prepared for adoption at the June NATO summit in Madrid.
These same countries are designated as key partners for the United States in this region, above all in the politico-military sector. It should be remembered that the American strategy also speaks of the desire to strengthen military cooperation and interaction with NATO in the region. And the response was not long in coming.
“The new strategic concept will take into account for the first time the growing influence and coercive policy of China on the world stage, which represent a systemic challenge to our security and our democracies,” said the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg after the ministerial meeting. He added: “China has joined Moscow in questioning the right of states to self-determination. Whenever authoritarian powers oppose the rules-based world order, it becomes even more important for democracies to unite and defend our values. That’s why I expect us to agree on deepening Nato’s cooperation with our partners in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Always the same talk about democracy, values and a “rules-based order.” This sounds like a password to enter the multilateral structures created by Washington in the Euro-Atlantic and Asia-Pacific region to contain Russia and China. Knowing that the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine becomes a pretext to accuse China from now on, because it has not condemned it and does not intend to do so, just as it intends to continue cooperation with Russia in several areas.
Although, in addition to political-military cooperation with Asia-Pacific partners, Nato is talking about strengthening cooperation with them in a broader context, including areas such as cyber, new technologies, disinformation, maritime security, climate change and resilience.
These Nato efforts, as with the Alliance’s enlargement in the Euro-Atlantic region, will lead to increased conflict potential in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific, as the Alliance clearly engages there with the intention of “befriending someone.” This, in turn, will encourage China and Russia to move closer together, to further unlock the potential of their strategic cooperation.
INTERNATIONALIST 360° 