JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA-NATO No office in Tokyo, but NATO doesn’t stop at the Indo-Pacific

New bilateral cooperation agreements were signed with Japan and South Korea at the Vilnius summit. The statement speaks harshly of the “political, economic and military instruments adopted by China to increase its global presence.” Beijing’s response: “Firmly against the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance in the Pacific, we will defend our interests.”

Vilnius ( / Agencies) – The establishment in Tokyo of the controversial liaison office between NATO and the so-called AP4 countries (Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand) is no longer on the agenda. But the projection towards the Indo-Pacific, with the aim of containing Chinese expansionism, continues to be one of the priorities of the Atlantic Alliance. And a source of great irritation for the Beijing government.

This is how we can summarize what, from the Asian perspective, has resulted in these hours of the NATO summit that is being held in Vilnius. The astonishment of France and some other countries removed the most indigestible thing from the table: the opening of an office in Tokyo, which would also have made NATO’s commitment physically visible in an area that remains outside its borders. But this does not mean that the underlying issue of the “China threat” has been shelved. After all, the governments of Tokyo, Seoul, Canberra and Auckland had also been specially invited to the summit. And in the bilateral meetings that took place between yesterday and today, the Individual Tailored Partnership Programthe cooperation agreements between the Atlantic Alliance and individual countries.

In the one signed with South Korea, President Yoon emphasized cybersecurity and Pyongyang’s response to threats as main areas of cooperation. Regarding the agreement signed with Kishida, Japanese Prime Minister, the areas of cooperation are expanded from 9 to 16, adding among them disruptive emerging technologies, interoperability between the respective forces and the fight against climate change. “No other partner is closer to NATO than Japan,” declared NATO Secretary General Jean Stoltenberg.

The issue of China’s “containment” in the Indo-Pacific is explicitly mentioned in the declaration adopted by the summit. “The People’s Republic of China uses a wide range of political, economic and military instruments to increase its global presence,” reads the document signed by the member countries of the Alliance. “Their damaging hybrid and cyber operations, their confrontational rhetoric, and their disinformation target allies and harm Alliance security.” For NATO, Beijing “intends to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, strategic materials and supply chains. It uses its economic influence to create strategic dependencies and reinforce its influence. It intends to subvert the rules-based international order, including in the areas space, cybernetic and maritime”. The member countries say they are “open to constructive engagement with the People’s Republic of China,” but add that they want to strengthen “our common consciousness, enhancing our resilience and preparedness, and protecting us from coercive tactics and efforts to divide the Alliance.”

Tones that Beijing obviously did not like: a spokesman for the Chinese mission to the European Union responded to the statement by stigmatizing “Cold War rhetoric” and “ideological bias.” China will “firmly uphold its sovereignty, security and development interests and firmly oppose NATO’s eastward expansion in the Asia-Pacific,” the response concluded. Any action that threatens China’s legitimate rights and interests will be dealt with. with determined counterattacks”.