Nato’s Asia office adds ‘layer of cooperation’ for Japan but won’t result in its membership
- The new liaison office, Nato’s first in Asia, will facilitate consultations with Japan and key partners, and is an ‘important and positive development’ for the country
- China’s foreign ministry notes that ‘high vigilance’ is needed in the face of Nato’s ‘eastward expansion’ and that Asia should not be a battle arena for geopolitics
The new office will be Nato’s first in Asia, and will facilitate consultations between the 31-nation alliance and Japan amid growing challenges to peace and security in the region, the Nikkei Asia reported.
The single-person outstation will also be linked to other like-minded nations in the Asia-Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
The suggestion for a liaison office in Tokyo was first put forward in late January, when Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Japan for talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Analysts have emphasised that there is virtually no possibility of this initial arrangement developing into Japan formally joining Nato in the future, although the move is clearly designed to reinforce political and security ties among countries concerned at the growing military might – and unpredictability – of China, North Korea and Russia.
