Why NATO is opening its first Asia office in Japan and what this could mean

NATO is planning to open its first Asia office in Japan. The report by Nikkei Asia citing Japanese and NATO officials says the office is meant to enable ‘periodic consultations’ with key partners in the region. The move comes in the backdrop of China emerging as a threat and a continued focus on Russia. But what could this mean?  Let’s take a closer look: What is NATO saying? NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said the alliance would not go into details of ongoing discussions. “NATO has offices and liaison arrangements with a number of international organisations and partner countries, and allies regularly assess those liaison arrangements to ensure that they best serve the needs of both NATO and our partners,” she said.

Lungescu said NATO has a close partnership with Japan that continues to grow.

“Practical cooperation includes a wide range of areas, including cyber defence, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, non-proliferation, science and technology, and human security,” she said. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg visited Japan in January and pledged with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to strengthen ties in the face off “historic” security challenges, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s rising military power. What is Japan saying? Not much. While Japan isn’t part of NATO, it has been designated a ‘global partner’. Japan’s foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi previously said that Tokyo welcomes the increased involvement of NATO member states in the Indo-Pacific region, where China has become increasingly assertive militarily. During an extended session of the two-day NATO foreign ministerial meeting in Brussels last month, Hayashi also pledged to boost Japan’s cooperation with the trans-Atlantic alliance amid an increasingly volatile global security environment, made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Japan cannot achieve its goal of realising a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” a term popularised by the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on its own, Hayashi was quoted as saying by Japan’s Kyodo news agency. The concept has been used to raise awareness about Beijing’s growing military and economic clout in the region. [caption id=“attachment_12095152” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. AP[/caption] Japan and NATO are seeking to deepen cooperation on cyber threats, disruptive technologies and disinformation, aiming to sign an individually tailored partnership programme before a NATO summit in July, Nikkei Asia reported. The Nikkei Asia report said the proposed office is due to open next year in Tokyo but details such as whether Japan would provide the space or NATO would fund it were under negotiation. NATO has similar liaison offices in New York, Vienna, Ukraine and other places, it said. Danish Ambassador to Japan Peter Taksoe-Jensen told Nikkei Asia this is more than just a symbolic move. “It would be a very visible, real way to strengthen the relations between Japan and NATO,” he said.

Peter Taksoe-Jensen also noted the changed geopolitical landscape.

“At the time, Russia was considered a potential partner and there was no mention of China. In 2022, at the Madrid Summit, allied leaders decided that Russia was no longer a partner but a foe, and that there was also an acknowledgment that China’s rise would and could have an impact on trans-European security,” he said. “This is why it is important for NATO to keep up relations with our partners in this region.” What is China saying? China said on Thursday “high vigilance” was needed in the face of NATO’s “eastward expansion”. Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said 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 told a regular press conference. According to AA.com, China’s top diplomat Qin Gang in March claimed the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” is an “attempt to gang up to form exclusive blocs, to provoke a confrontation by plotting an Asia-Pacific version of NATO.” China’s reaction also comes ahead of the third summit of the Quad grouping – which Japan is a part of – in Sydney on 24 May. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and US President Joe Biden – are scheduled to attend the summit. Beijing has previously criticised the Quad grouping, saying it is actually a closed and exclusive “clique” targeting China. What do experts say? That though this is a step in the right direction, there is virtually no chance that this could result in Tokyo joining NATO. “This is a very important and positive development for Japan, which is deeply concerned that in the event of China attacking Taiwan, European countries would not come to the assistance of Japan and the United States,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of politics and international relations at Waseda University, told SCMP. “North Korea is also an obvious concern as it continues to develop nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles,” he added. NATO has previously claimed that though Russia remains its “most significant threat”, China now poses “systemic challenges” to security. Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, told the newspaper, “Japan wants to show that it is actively contributing to global security and … this new office [is] a way of ‘educating’ Europe about the threats that exist in this part of the world.”

He added that this is a positive step that will add an extra layer of co-operation.

More from Explainers

Is Russia giving India more discount on oil after Trump tariffs? Why is New Zealand allowing golden visa holders to buy luxury homes?

“For NATO, China is also a concern, as are North Korea and, increasingly, Russia, so this is a way of formally establishing a firmer link with the US’ most important non-Nato ally,” Dujarric said. Arnav Jha, writing in News9, said that NATO made the move because it realises that no region can operate in its own little bubble in today’s world. “…contrary to Beijing’s rhetoric, NATO’s move eastward is not driven by expansionism, much less some kind of explicit intent to contain China,” Jha wrote. “The security and well-being of NATO members, a key focus of the alliance, can no longer simply be secured by concentrating on the western world and its specific problems.” Jha pointed out that the Indo-Pacific is set to be an unparalleled growth engine for the world economy and, having taken that into consideration, it is easy to comprehend why NATO would want to establish itself in the region. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.