NATO chief invites Indo-Pacific partners to discuss common threats

Asia-Pacific, Europe, News April 7, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with officials from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand on April 5, 2023, to discuss common threats and global security challenges.

The NATO secretary general invited Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Nanaia Mahuta, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Do Hoon Lee, and Deputy Ambassador of Australia David Dutton to NATO Headquarters.

According to the NATO statement, the representatives from NATO’s Indo-Pacific partner countries joined a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to “discuss the global consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and other shared challenges such as cyber and climate change”.

During the meeting, Stoltenberg said that NATO highly values the partnership with the Indo-Pacific partners of the Alliance: Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan.

Stoltenberg stressed that “What happens in your region, what happens in the Indo-Pacific matters for Europe. And what happens in Europe matters for you”. He added that “the war in Ukraine demonstrates this clearly with its global ramifications”.

NATO secretary general highlighted that “the fact that we also see that China and Russia are standing in closer together, makes it just even more important that we are standing together as partners.”

Stoltenberg also stressed that “NATO is committed to working with like-minded partners across the globe to tackle global challenges, uphold the rules-based international order, and preserve peace”.

*^{NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Manaia Mahuta, and Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea Do Hoon Lee. (Image Credit: NATO)}*

Traditionally, NATO has acted as an alliance that focused on issues only related to transatlantic security. However, recently the scope of NATO has been expanded to include a framework that also addresses threats from other regions, especially focusing on the Indo-Pacific region.

According to the NATO 2022 Strategic Concept, the Alliance considers the Indo-Pacific as an important region, given that developments in that region can directly affect Euro-Atlantic security. NATO’s new Strategic Concept focuses on strengthening partnerships with the allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region especially, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

In recent months, NATO Allies have increased engagements with Indo-Pacific states. In 2022, Australia hosted Pitch Black Exercise with the participation of more than 100 aircraft from Indo-Pacific and NATO countries.

Last year in September, Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force conducted the first-ever bilateral joint military drill with the German Air Force in Japanese air space. Apart from Germany, other European nations including France and the United Kingdom are also increasing the scope of military partnerships and activities in the Indo-Pacific region.