The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a defence alliance that includes 31 countries from Europe and North America. In addition to recent attempts to open an office in Japan, NATO seeks ongoing dialogue with Australia and other regional allies. This is exacerbating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region. With recent developments, NATO is evolving from a Western security organisation to an alliance concerned with global affairs. Although its 14-article founding charter defined it as an organisation concerned with North Atlantic geography, NATO is currently working to expand to the Asia-Pacific region.
The alliance justified the opening of the liaison office in Japan by facilitating communication with security partners such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The main goal is to create a strategic advantage over China, which has left the United States of America (U.S.) behind in economic competition. In this context, the goal is to corner China in the region and deal a blow to the Belt and Road Initiative. Recently, Tokyo has increased its military and defense spending and established a series of security partnerships with allies.
It is clear that the Euro-Atlantic region is not at peace and is prone to constant crises. For this reason, NATO is seeking to build new alliances in the Asia-Pacific region on the basis of global security and is approaching Japan in this context. Security partnership and regional stability are among the most important issues. Indeed, NATO and Japan face similar regional threats. The security risks posed by North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear missile programmes are a cause for concern between the two countries. Against this backdrop, the strategic objectives of NATO and Japan include intensifying dialogue, cooperation and addressing peace and crisis issues. They will also cooperate by providing each other with humanitarian assistance in times of disasters and emergencies.
Japan’s national security strategy includes important issues such as strengthening regional dialogue, addressing threats and risks, and disarmament. Japan has a long-standing relationship with NATO. This is because they share important commonalities such as democracy, human rights, strategic interests and, above all, the rule of law.
For the second year in a row, Japan participated in the NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida signed a 5-page agreement on a “so-called partnership” to conduct joint exercises, training, exchange personnel and strengthen defence cooperation. This agreement also set strategic goals for the years 2023-2026.[i] This situation was not welcomed by Moscow, Beijing and Paris. Beijing in particular frequently expresses its dissatisfaction with NATO’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region.
On July 12, 2023, during the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the 13th Secretary General of NATO said: “There is no other partner as close to NATO as Japan.”[ii] NATO the eastward expansion of Japan can also be interpreted as a policy to pressure Russia and China. This expansion will undoubtedly exacerbate regional tensions. As a result, cooperation between China and Russia is likely to increase. Ultimately, NATO ‘s expansion strategy into the Asia-Pacific region can be seen as an important step that could affect the regional and global balance of power.
[i] “Why NATO’s Growing Interest in Asia Is a Mistake”, TIME, https://time.com/6294499/nato-summit-vilnius-asia/, (Erişim Tarihi:01.08.2023)
[ii]“NATO Tokyo Office İs ‘Still On The Table, Says Stoltenberg”, NIKKEI Asia, https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Indo-Pacific/NATO-Tokyo-office-is-still-on-the-table-says-Stoltenberg (Erişim Tarihi: 01.08.2023)
