The advance of the North Atlantic Alliance to the east will lead to a violation of stability in the Asia-Pacific region, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, commenting on NATO's plans to open a representative office in Japan. The diplomat stressed that Asia should not become an arena for geopolitical struggle.

"NATO's continued eastward expansion into the Asia-Pacific region and its interference in regional affairs will inevitably undermine peace and stability, as well as contribute to bloc confrontation," Mao Ning said.

According to her, this should cause increased wariness of the countries of the region.

Expanding cooperation

The other day, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei announced the bloc's intention to open its liaison office in Japan in 2024.

"This representation will allow the military alliance to conduct periodic consultations with Japan and key partners in the region, such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, against the backdrop of the emergence of a new challenge in the face of China. Along with this, attention will traditionally be paid to Russia, "the newspaper writes.

In addition, according to newspaper sources, NATO and Japan are going to sign an agreement on a new partnership program. It is reported that this is planned to be done before the summit of the alliance in Vilnius, which will be held on July 11-12. Representatives of the Japanese side were also invited to the event.

Earlier, the possibility of opening a NATO office in Japan was discussed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Secretary General of the bloc Jens Stoltenberg during the latter's visit to Tokyo at the end of January. In mid-April, the alliance circulated a draft proposal to member states, writes Nikkei.

Japan is now in official contact with NATO through the Danish Embassy.

  • Jens Stoltenberg and Fumio Kishida
  • AP
  • © Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo

Plans to launch the work of the alliance's representative office in Japan were commented on by NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu.

"NATO has no closer or more capable partner than Japan. We share the same values, interests and concerns, including support for Ukraine and responding to security challenges posed by authoritarian regimes, and our partnership is growing stronger," the representative of the alliance said.

Recently, Japan has been actively expanding cooperation with the bloc. In 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the first Japanese head of government to attend a NATO summit. After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Asian country decided to create a separate mission under the alliance, separating it from the Japanese embassy in Belgium and thus raising its status.

And in early April 2023, Jens Stoltenberg, at a press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, announced that NATO would intensify cooperation with partners in the region - Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

"We very much appreciate our partnership – political dialogue, practical cooperation, and we welcome this opportunity to further expand our joint work. We can clearly see that in this more dangerous and unpredictable world, security is not regional, but global. What happens in Europe matters for Asia and the Indo-Pacific, and what happens in Asia and the Indo-Pacific matters for Europe," Stoltenberg said.

Russia's position

Russia, for its part, has repeatedly pointed to the goals for which NATO seeks to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The Asia-Pacific space has developed for several decades on the basis of ASEAN initiatives, around which an inclusive, open and equitable structure of security and cooperation has developed. The United States and its allies, as well as the North Atlantic Alliance, are now trying to master this space. Recently, the concept of Indo-Pacific strategies was put forward, within the framework of which formats are promoted that are by no means open to everyone. Moreover, they compete with the inclusive structures created around ASEAN, and involve the militarization of this region with an obvious focus on containing China and Russian interests in the Asia-Pacific region, "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following the East Asia Summit in November last year.

The diplomat added that one of the concrete examples of such a line was the creation of the AUKUS partnership.

In turn, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at a meeting of the heads of military departments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries in New Delhi last week, said that the West's opposition to the strengthening of multipolarity is most actively implemented in the Asia-Pacific region, where the United States initiated the collapse of the existing system of regional cooperation based on ASEAN.

The minister drew attention to the fact that the QUAD and AUKUS blocs created by the United States are actively merging with NATO.

A warning sign

Political analysts interviewed by RT call Beijing's reaction to NATO's continued expansion in the Asia-Pacific region natural.

"NATO's rapprochement with Tokyo is clearly aimed at containing China. Japan is actively attracting allies to stop the threat from the PRC, and thus becomes a conductor of the alliance in the region. Tokyo considers Beijing's behavior aggressive in relation to some disputed territories, so it is doing everything to unite even more strongly with the United States and Europe, "Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in a conversation with RT.

  • NATO Headquarters in Brussels
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency

He also expressed confidence that, pursuing an active anti-Chinese policy, Japan and NATO will try to involve some other states in this process, for example, India.

At the same time, from his point of view, such a course can lead to a variety of consequences, including a direct military confrontation with the PRC.

Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, in an interview with RT, suggested that the activation of NATO in Asia would help turn the American system of alliances that already exist in the region into a kind of North Atlantic Alliance.

"China intends to fight this, trying to counteract any activity of the bloc in Asia," the political scientist explained.

At the same time, according to him, Japan is a key ally of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region and it will be entrusted with the task of strengthening NATO's influence in the region.

"It will be the first country to open a permanent NATO mission in the Asia-Pacific region. Cooperation begins with it, because Japan has the maximum industrial potential of all US allies and already has extensive experience in bilateral cooperation in the military sphere with some European countries, including Great Britain and France. The Japanese have come a long way in developing bilateral ties with individual NATO countries, in addition to the United States. Now they will begin to cooperate with the alliance as a whole, and at the same time Japan is the core of the consolidation of the Asian system of alliances aimed at containing China, "Kashin said.

He regards the possible opening of a NATO office in Japan as a clear signal that the alliance has extensive plans for the Asia-Pacific region.

"The NATO representation is a technical body, its opening is not an extraordinary or extraordinary step. However, it points to a changing relationship between the alliance and Japan. The representation will allow them to quickly resolve issues related to cooperation, joint exercises and other military integration. This shows that the interaction between Japan and NATO is expanding dramatically. This is a rather alarming sign, indicating an attempt by the United States to create a global alliance that can be used against Russia and China," Kashin concluded.