The unprecedented involvement of the four US allies – and their agreement to work with NATO on cyber defense and maritime security – underlines their alarm both at Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and the growing power of an increasingly assertive China. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who suspended a crucial election campaign for the summit, said the move showed the leaders realized that European and Indo-Pacific security were “inseparable”. “I feel a strong sense of crisis that Ukraine may be East Asia tomorrow,” Kishida said, adding that Asia-Pacific partners should in future “participate in NATO summits on a regular basis.” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a meeting during the first day of the NATO Summit at the IFEMA Convention Center in Madrid, Spain, June 29, 2022 © Lavandeira Jr/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock NATO member states share their new partners’ anxiety about Beijing’s intentions. At the summit, the alliance formally identified China for the first time as a “challenger” in its strategic vision for the next decade. Closer ties between NATO and Asia-Pacific countries have alarmed Beijing. “Now NATO has extended its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific,” said Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, adding that efforts to undermine peace and stability in the region “are bound to fail.” Beijing has repeatedly warned against the creation of any NATO-like military bloc in Asia, a prospect that security experts said was highly unlikely as countries in the region have vastly different interests and strong economic ties to China. But the deepening engagement between NATO and the four Asia-Pacific countries is driven by concerns that separate alliances with the US alone are no longer sufficient to ensure their security. Their trust in Washington has been undermined by the “America First” approach of former President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw US troops from Japan and South Korea. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fears that China could make a similar move in Taiwan have suggested the need for multiple options to bolster deterrence. “It would complicate the calculations for China if it has to consider not only the alliance with the US, but also the 30 members that belong to NATO,” said Yoshikazu Hirose, an expert on the alliance at the National Defense Academy in Japan. A US official said Washington had pushed Japan and the other three nations to join NATO as part of a strategy by President Joe Biden’s administration to build and expand coalitions of like-minded allies to counter China. The U.S. official said Japan wanted to expand and diversify its security ties as an insurance policy to protect itself from China in case the 2024 U.S. election produced a president weaker in its alliance with Tokyo. “Japan is trying to build capabilities outside of its relationship with the US,” he said. Christopher Johnston, a Japan expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, said Kishida felt particularly threatened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and wanted Europe and NATO to be more coordinated in the challenge. from china. Kishida had also encouraged UK and German naval missions in the Indo-Pacific over the past year, said Johnston, who until recently was in charge of Japan policy at the National Security Council. “It fits into a broader plan of diversifying relationships,” he said. At the Madrid summit, Anthony Albanese, who was elected prime minister of Australia in May, rejected accusations that Nato and its partners had constructed an “imaginary enemy” in the form of China. Albanese pointed to Beijing’s “borderless” partnership with Russia and its refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. “China needs to see what’s going on and see the determination that’s there from around the world and it should condemn Russia’s actions,” he said. Anthony Albanese © Lukas Coch/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who made his international debut at the summit, promised his country would play a bigger role in security. “The cooperative relationship between South Korea and NATO will become a cornerstone for solidarity,” Yun said. On the sidelines of the summit, Yun also met with Kishida and Biden for the countries’ first trilateral meeting in nearly five years. The South Korean leader used the occasion to signal a willingness to mend ties with Japan that have been badly strained by disputes over historical issues and trade. Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, concerns about how to contain China’s military ambitions had caused a flurry of collective security arrangements in Asia. These include the Quad, which brings together the US, Japan, Australia and India, and the Aukus pact, under which the UK and US will help Australia acquire nuclear submarines. These multilateral security networks and existing bilateral defense pacts have also been complemented by regional economic initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework recently unveiled by Biden.

Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo, said there would be limits to cooperation between NATO and its new partners. “I think they would welcome any kind of diplomatic, financial and resource investment in NATO to push back against Russia,” Nagy said. “But do NATO members want South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand in their relationship and as equals sitting at the table? I’m not so sure.”