Reviews | China is itself responsible for the warming of NATO-Asia relations

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Beijing has been on the diplomatic warpath against NATO, warning the transatlantic military alliance not to meddle in the Asia-Pacific region. But this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania showed that Asian countries are determined to deepen their ties with NATO despite threats of retaliation from China. If President Xi Jinping is looking for someone to blame, he should look in the mirror.

For months, senior Chinese officials have been stepping up their anti-NATO rhetoric. In a June speech to a major conference in Singapore, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu accused the United States of pushing for NATO-like structures in Asia to hold the countries of the region and exacerbate conflict and confrontation. Former Chinese Ambassador to Washington Cui Tiankai told the same audience: We don’t need an Asian NATO. We do not want to see the expansion of NATO’s role in our region.

According to Beijing’s logic, the war in Ukraine is proof that the European security architecture, of which NATO is a key element, has failed. The best course Europe can take for Asia is to do nothing, Cui said. At a different event this month, Cui said, “If NATO tries to expand into Asia-Pacific, it could well spell its decline.

The NATO summit offered a loud and clear rebuke of these words from (most) NATO members and several Indo-Pacific powers. Chinese threats are actually pushing Asian countries into the arms of NATO.

Follow the opinion of this author Josh Rogin

What happens in the Indo-Pacific matters to Europe and what happens in Europe matters to the Indo-Pacific, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said as he greeted the President South -Korean Yoon Suk Yeol during the summit.

Yoon said he wants to institutionalize the framework for our cooperation with NATO. The two established a new South Korea-NATO partnership to cooperate in 11 areas, including military connectivity, cyber defense and non-proliferation. Yoons’ moves come as Beijing steps up its campaign of economic coercion against South Korea.

It was the second time Yoon and his counterparts from Japan, Australia and New Zealand had attended the NATO summit, a group now called Asia-Pacific Partners, or AP4, for short. No one is trying to create a copy of NATO in the Indo-Pacific, but Asian democracies are starting to join forces to resist Beijing’s aggression.

Meanwhile, the intimidation and assertive diplomacy of China’s wolf warriors in Europe is prompting smaller countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, to back down by becoming more involved in Asia. Before the NATO summit, Lithuania published its first Indo-Pacific strategy. For Lithuanians, Chinese attempts this year to sink their economy (as punishment for deepening ties with Taiwan) have been a wake-up call.

China’s failed attempts to exert economic and diplomatic pressure on Lithuania prove that a country can resist economic blackmail if it has developed societal resilience and has reliable partners, the strategy says. Lithuania’s experience in its relations with China allows us to share lessons learned from resisting pressures with countries in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

There are growing signs that the security ties between some Asian and European democracies are deepening. South Korea doesn’t just quietly ship ammunition to Ukraine; it now openly sells tanks to Poland. Meanwhile, European militaries are increasingly taking part in military exercises in the Pacific. Democracies in the two regions are also working to jointly reduce their dependence on China for high-tech goods and other key resources.

Of course, not all NATO countries are on the same page when it comes to China. Although NATO’s joint statement contained strong language criticizing China’s policies and promising strong cooperation with the reunited Asia-Pacific democracies, it lacked a previously expected plank.

The French government has blocked a long-discussed plan to open a NATO office in Tokyo. It comes shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron was criticized for saying Europe had no interest in becoming Americas supporters over the Taiwan issue. Macron’s argument is that Europe should not confront China over NATO or Taiwan while it is still embroiled in the Ukraine crisis.

Perhaps the best rebuttal to this view came from President Biden, who made a clear connection between the security of the two regions in his speech on Wednesday. He noted that the Asian countries participating in the NATO summit were strong supporters of Ukraine.

We work to deepen the ties between Atlantic and Pacific democracies so they can better work together towards the shared values ​​we all seek: strong alliances, versatile partnerships, common purpose, collective action to address our common challenges, Biden said. Will we reverse naked, uncontrolled aggression today to deter other potential aggressors tomorrow?

Beijing’s efforts to prevent Asian countries from moving closer to NATO and preventing NATO from moving closer to Asia are backfiring. This is not a US-led plot to contain China. Asian and European countries realize that they can only ensure security in their own region if they help each other to defend themselves.

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