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The People’s Republic of China has voiced firm opposition to the creation of an “Asia-Pacific NATO” after officials from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea met in Brussels earlier this month.
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with the Indo-Pacific representatives from the four countries at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 5 April.
Stoltenberg welcomed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Hayashi Yoshimasa; Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, Nanaia Mahuta; Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Lee Do Hoon; and Deputy Ambassador of Australia to NATO, David Dutton.
The group discussed the global consequences the Russo-Ukraine War, cyber threats, and climate change.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO highly values the partnership between the Indo-Pacific nations of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan.
“In a more dangerous and unpredictable world, it is even more obvious that security is not regional, security is global,” he said.
“What happens in your region, what happens in the Indo-Pacific matters for Europe. And what happens in Europe matters for you.
“I think the war in Ukraine demonstrates this clearly with its global ramifications.
“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.”
Heads of state and government for the four countries met for the first time last year at a NATO summit. The next NATO summit is in Vilnius in July this year.
Secretary General Stoltenberg said NATO had recently increased to 31 countries and is imminently awaiting the addition of Sweden for the 32nd representative.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, said the country firmly opposes NATO’s involvement in the Asia-Pacific affairs and the construction of an “Asia-Pacific version of NATO”.
“China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order, and a provider of public goods,” he said.
Japanese and Korean representatives have also attended 13th Defense Trilateral Talks with the United States in Washington on 14 April.
Representatives exchanged assessments of the Korean Peninsula security environment, broader region and consulted on ways to deepen US–Japan–ROK security cooperation.
The PRC does not agree with NATO creating regional tensions, the mentality of global powers seeking hegemony and rejects Stoltenberg’s recent statement regarding the “security challenge” posed by China, Senior Colonel Tan said.
