International Observation | NATO's Black Hand Extends to the Asia Pacific to Expose the Ugly World of Conscience | Thinking | International

Beijing, July 9th (Xinhua) - Japanese media recently reported that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Lithuania from July 11th to 12th, along with leaders from South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. In May of this year, the media also revealed that NATO plans to establish a liaison office in Japan in 2024. At that time, the Tokyo Liaison Office will become NATO's first operational agency in Asia.

As a product of group confrontation during the Cold War, NATO has continued to expand in recent years and has extended its black hand to distant Asia Pacific regions, seeking to strengthen military security cooperation with some Asia Pacific countries. Analysts point out that NATO's move has exposed its ugly intentions of undermining stability in the Asia Pacific region to maintain US hegemony.

On April 7, 2022, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg held a press conference after the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting.

Black hands gradually extend towards the Asia Pacific region

After the end of the Cold War, the fate of NATO has always been a focus of discussion. But this military alliance did not end its life and instead continued to expand, first expanding eastward to confront Russia, and now attempting to venture into the Asia Pacific region.

In fact, as early as 2006, the United States advocated for establishing partnerships with countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand before the NATO summit in Riga. Although this move was not recognized by the summit attendees, public opinion believes that it is actually NATO's "Asia Pacific" process. In recent years, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand have been considered part of NATO's "global partners". Especially in recent years, NATO has further increased its focus on the Asia Pacific region and gradually increased its power projection.

In 2021, NATO formulated the "NATO 2030 Agenda", seeking to revitalize alliance strength, promote new strategic transformation, focus on major country competition, and propose to actively participate in global affairs, especially "Indo Pacific affairs". In 2022, the NATO Madrid Summit invited leaders from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand for the first time. In January of this year, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg visited Asia, claiming that security in the transatlantic and Indo Pacific regions is closely linked. In June, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, NATO will complete a new cooperation plan with Japan this summer, and will work with other three countries to develop new cooperation plans.

On March 17, 2022, French President Macron presented his campaign manifesto at a press conference held in the Seine Saint Denis department in the northern suburbs of Paris. Shen Jizhong

However, there are also different voices within NATO regarding the issue of expanding into the Asia Pacific region. French President Macron has clearly expressed opposition. He pointed out that if "we push NATO to expand its sphere of influence and geographical scope, we will make a big mistake." French international expert Dominic Trancon said that NATO is composed of North Atlantic countries, and Japan is "too far away" from the official scope set by NATO.

Everything is done to maintain American hegemony

NATO, nominally a transatlantic alliance, is actually completely led by the United States. NATO's involvement in the Asia Pacific region serves the needs of the United States to maintain its global hegemonic position and promote its global strategy.

In recent years, the United States has increasingly focused its strategic focus on the Asia Pacific region. Since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, the United States has taken the opportunity to strengthen interaction with Asia Pacific allies such as Japan, highlight Asian security threats, and strive to promote NATO's "Asia Pacific ization". In 2022, NATO issued a new strategic concept document, positioning China as a "systemic challenge".

Yu Shougen, director of the South Korean Institute of East Asian Studies, believes that the fundamental driving force behind NATO's frequent presence in the Asia Pacific region in recent years is to curb China's development momentum and continuously enhance its international influence in the context of the game between China and the United States.

On March 24, 2022, US President Biden attended a press conference after the NATO Special Summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

But the hegemonic interests of the United States do not equal the interests of its allies, and the United States' attempt to introduce NATO into the Asia Pacific region has also raised concerns among many countries. Trancon pointed out that shifting NATO's focus from the North Atlantic to Asia clearly sees China as a potential enemy, but Europe and the United States have different positions on China. Europeans believe that China is a necessary partner to cooperate with, not an enemy.

International relations expert Jon Mahmoudi from the University of Indonesia also believes that although the United States has been trying to woo countries in the Asia Pacific region, many countries do not want to become pawns in major power struggles, and "NATO's' eastward expansion into the Asia Pacific 'is difficult to achieve its so-called alliance goals.".

Threat to stability in the Asia Pacific region

Looking back at NATO's history, it is not difficult to see that since the end of the Cold War, wherever NATO extends its hand, it will create division and chaos: bombing the Southern Alliance, launching the Afghanistan War under the guise of "counter-terrorism", invading Iraq, airstrikes on Libya... all have brought heavy disasters to the local people.

On April 9, 1999, in a village near the small town of Chupia in the Federal Republic of Serbia, 42 year old Vila Mikalovic stood in front of a destroyed house and burst into tears. In March 1999, NATO forces led by the United States, under the guise of "avoiding humanitarian disasters," openly bypassed the United Nations Security Council and carried out a 78 day continuous bombing of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, resulting in the death of over 2000 innocent civilians.

According to an article in Malaysia's Nanyang Business Daily, NATO, as the largest military group during the Cold War and post Cold War periods, is the driving force behind Cold War thinking, zero sum games, and military collectivization in today's world. NATO's presence can be seen in the turmoil in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and other regions.

Analysts point out that NATO is still obsessed with Cold War thinking and group politics, dividing "us" and "them" and artificially dividing the world. If this thinking is brought into the Asia Pacific region, it may seriously threaten peace and stability in the region and even the world.

Yu Shougen said that under the leadership of the United States, NATO is attempting to extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific, introducing group politics and factional confrontation into Asia. This not only increases security risks in the Asia Pacific region, but may also disrupt the process of economic integration in the region, slow down or even hinder the development of countries in the region. We must be highly vigilant about this.

Tang Zhimin, Director of the China ASEAN Research Center at Chiang Kai shek School of Management in Thailand, stated that ASEAN countries have always been vigilant and concerned about NATO's involvement in Asia, believing that this may bring risks of military conflict and arms race to the Asia Pacific region, and may force some Asia Pacific countries to deviate from their principles of independence.

As a vanguard of the United States in the Asia Pacific region, Japan and NATO have joined forces and are willing to serve as a springboard for NATO's intervention in Asia Pacific affairs. Kumiko Haneda, an honorary professor at Aoyama University in Japan, believes that more Japanese people should be made aware of the threat posed by NATO and prevent the Japanese government from continuously strengthening its military line.