() — Japan and NATO are negotiating to open a liaison office in Japan, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said in an exclusive interview with on Wednesday.
It would be the first liaison office of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Asia.
Hayashi pointed to the war in Ukraine and Russian aggression as one of the reasons why “cooperation between “East Asia and NATO [es] increasingly important” and that the growing instability around the world has made this necessary.
“The reason why we are discussing this is that since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the world has become more unstable, and I felt that what is happening in Eastern Europe is not just limited to the issue in Eastern Europe and that directly affects the situation here in the Pacific,” Hayashi told .
Asked if opening a NATO liaison office in East Asia would send a message to the international community, Hayashi said the main threats Japan faces are China — “it’s a big challenge for us” — and the intensification of North Korea’s missile program, where “a nuclear test could be possible”, creating a security environment that is “more serious and also complex”.
“This is not a [mensaje] aimed at no specific country,” Hayashi reiterated.
NATO confirmed that there were ongoing talks in previous statements to on Wednesday. “Regarding the plans to open a liaison office in Japan, we are not going to go into the details of the ongoing discussions between the NATO allies,” said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu, adding that “NATO and Japan have long-standing cooperation.”
has contacted NATO for further comment.
