NATO Pivots to Asia as China Threat Grows

Talks are underway for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to open a liaison office in Japan, the military alliance's first in Asia.

"We are already in discussions, but no details (have been) finalized yet," Japan's foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told CNN in an interview on Wednesday, adding that the country was left with no choice but to rethink its security following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has made the world "more unstable."

News of the discussions aligns with NATO's plans to strengthen cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries. The military alliance said in a February statement that "strengthening relations with the Asia-Pacific partners forms an important aspect of the NATO 2030 agenda."

In June 2022, NATO unveiled its "Strategic Concept" document, listing China as one of its strategic priorities for the first time. "The People's Republic of China's (PRC) stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values," it said.

NATO argued that Beijing posed "systemic challenges" to Euro-Atlantic security, but Russia remained "the most significant and direct threat to allies' security."

Throughout the war in Ukraine, China has criticized the U.S. and NATO. Ukraine's Western allies, including the U.S. and other NATO members, have provided the war-torn country with financial assistance and military equipment to assist in its fight against Russia.

Nikkei Asia reported on May 3, citing unnamed Japanese and NATO officials, that the liaison office would allow the military alliance to work with Japan and other partners in the region, including New Zealand, Australia and South Korea, as China emerges as a new challenge.

It would be the first of its kind in Asia. NATO has liaison offices at the United Nations in New York, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna, and in Georgia, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Kuwait.

Newsweek has reached out to NATO via email for comment.

According to Bill Hayton, an associate fellow with the Asia-Pacific Program at Chatham House, the direct reference to China shows NATO members are concerned about security threats from Asia expanding into Europe and North America.

"The main point to remember here is that the NATO Charter limits the organization to operating in the 'North Atlantic Area.' It is not a global actor," Hayton told Newsweek.

"NATO first established relations with Japan and South Korea in the context of North Korea's development of missiles and nuclear weapons that had the potential to pose a threat to NATO states as well. Those relations developed during the NATO intervention in support of the government of Afghanistan (under a UN mandate)," he said.

Hayton explained that NATO's focus now is on potential threats from China that could affect supply chains and communications within NATO states. "To that end the alliance wants to coordinate with Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand," he said, referring to the NATO 2030 agenda.

"There's going to be a lot of exaggerated talk about NATO intervening in a China-related scenario. There is no prospect of that happening," he added. "NATO requires unanimity to operate and there's no way that all 31 members are going to agree to that any time soon."

Beijing has previously warned NATO against extending "its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific."

Responding to the developments, Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said on May 4 that Asia was a "promising land for cooperation and development and should not be a battle arena for geopolitics."

"NATO's continual eastward expansion in the Asia-Pacific, interference in regional affairs, attempts to destroy regional peace and stability, and push for bloc confrontation calls for high vigilance from countries in the region," Mao said.

Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a distinguished fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), said that the military alliance opening a liaison office in Tokyo "is a natural evolution in NATO's relationship with Japan, as well as other like-minded countries in Asia."

"For well over a decade, NATO has had partnerships with countries in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand," Volker told Newsweek.

Volker said NATO's most recent Strategic Concept highlights China as a challenge where increased NATO focus is needed.

"As the risks presented by China's military, economic and technological power increase, it is natural that NATO would take steps to have a more regular presence in and dialogue with Japan," he added.