But despite the absence of a full-fledged entrance into NATO, cooperation continues to grow.
Factoring in Asia’s disunity, U.S. President Joe Biden and his team have been setting up smaller groups to contain China. First, Biden revived the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, including Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. Then, India’s sensitivity toward being seen as part of an anti-China security alliance gave birth to Squad, which excludes India but includes the Philippines. The U.S. has also encouraged confidence-building measures between Seoul and Tokyo, supported Japanese defense investments and identified new bases for joint use in the Philippines.
European allies, for their part, started building a cooperative framework with the aim of deterring China. And according to experts, just like the EU supports Ukraine without it being a NATO member, the bloc can also aid its partners in Asia, offering both intelligence and material support.
Recently, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also revealed it was South Korean intelligence that briefed NATO on the “deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to Russia’s Kursk region.” And defense-industrial cooperation with Seoul has become essential since South Korea supplied more ammunition to Ukraine than Europe.
Meanwhile, others believe that as Japan gradually breaks away from its pacifist constitution and continues to increase defense expenditure, the mistrust between Seoul and Tokyo might show signs of abating. Just last month, the EU and Japan signed a Security and Defense Partnership to promote “concrete naval cooperation” and discuss “defense initiatives including exchange of information on defense industry-related matters.”
Moreover, it was new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba who said it was time to float an “Asian NATO,” as if reverse engineering China’s rhetoric into a call for unity.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel also recently made a case for an economic NATO. “Over the past three years, the U.S. and its allies in the region have strengthened their partnerships and transformed the security landscape, isolating China,” he wrote. The fact that China has been a belligerent economic power has provided “the free world with an opening … The U.S. must now further integrate economic statecraft into its wider strategic latticework architecture,” he noted.
And that in particular is something the alliance’s European members should take note of — even if an Asian NATO might not be on the horizon.