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NATO not likely to intervene in an Indo-Pacific conflict, says MSC chief
Munich Security Conference Chairman Christoph Heusgen takes part in panel discussion about national security strategy at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin in March 2022. | POOL / VIA REUTERSBY GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ
May 14, 2023
Despite NATO’s deepening relations with Indo-Pacific countries, including plans to open an office in Japan, the military alliance is unlikely to get involved in any potential conflict in Asia, said the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, on Sunday.
The plan to open a liaison office in Tokyo demonstrates the interest of NATO countries in regional stability and underlines the close partnership between NATO and Japan, Heusgen said ahead of the MSC’s first-ever Munich Leaders Meeting (MLM) in Tokyo, which starts Monday.
“However, when it comes to active involvement of NATO in possible conflict situations (in the Indo-Pacific), this is by definition excluded in the treaty,” he said, pointing out that such a scenario would rather be dealt with on an individual country basis.
Nevertheless, NATO is increasingly paying attention to events in the region, which is why the alliance is deepening partnerships with like-minded countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, added Heusgen, who served as Germany’s Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2021.
“As a global community, we are confronted with global challenges, and you can no longer somehow distance yourself or separate yourself from challenges worldwide,” the MSC chief said.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which plays out in Europe has repercussions worldwide, on energy prices, on inflation and also … on global trade,” he said, emphasizing that the same would apply to any major crisis in Asia.
“In particular, when it comes to the interruption of the free movement of ships in the South China Sea or in the Taiwan Strait, if something were to happen, this would have global consequences for supply chains,” he warned.
“We are all literally in the same boat.”
Heusgen’s remarks come after Japan and NATO agreed to deepen their partnership in January, during a visit by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, with both sides arguing that the international community is “facing changes defining an era,” as the military alliance seeks more support for Ukraine and Tokyo looks for like-minded partners to tackle the growing military challenges posed by China and North Korea.
During a speech in Tokyo in early February, Stoltenberg stressed that working with partners around the world — especially in the Indo-Pacific — was part of the alliance’s answer to a “more dangerous and unpredictable world.”
The NATO chief also noted that among NATO’s partners, “none is closer or more capable than Japan,” adding bilateral ties would extend to new areas and domains such as cyberspace, outer space and critical and emerging technologies.
NATO’s planned Tokyo office — its first such station in Asia — is expected to allow the alliance to conduct periodic consultations with Japan and other key partners in the region, particularly on the challenges posed by China’s growing regional assertiveness and its nuclear buildup.
Indeed, these and other pressing security issues, including the war in Ukraine, cybersecurity and North Korea’s ongoing weapon tests, will be high on the agenda when participants from Europe, the United States and across the Indo-Pacific, including Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, meet for the first MLM in Tokyo.
Representatives from Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and several Southeast Asian countries will take part in the event, which ends on May 16, only three days ahead of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima. A representative from China was invited to the meeting but will not be attending.
Traditionally the MSC has been a very European- and trans-Atlantic-centered conference, Heusgen said. “We have opened up the conference over time, but with the geopolitical changes we are witnessing, we find it extremely important to go beyond this classic framework,” he said.
Heusgen added that he wants the Munich Leaders Meeting to serve as a platform to discuss solutions to problems and challenges in all continents as global approaches are needed to deal with today’s international issues.
NATO has been rapidly strengthening relations with its partners in the Indo-Pacific region under its 2030 agenda, as the alliance seeks global support in countering Russia, China and North Korea. In fact, the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand participated in their first-ever NATO summit last June in Madrid.
That said, NATO’s growing alignment of global defense and security interests with these four countries have also fueled speculation that the alliance might seek to extend its reach into the Indo-Pacific region.
In particular, Pyongyang and Beijing have warned about what they see as NATO’s attempt to extend its geographical scope and assert military supremacy in Asia.
That said, the White House and the Pentagon have repeatedly rejected claims that the U.S. is trying to create an Asian version of NATO. This is primarily because these countries already have alliances with the U.S., the country that underpins NATO, making formal accession to the trans-Atlantic alliance somewhat redundant.
NATO not likely to intervene in an Indo-Pacific conflict, says MSC chief
Despite NATO’s strong relations with Indo-Pacific countries, including plans to open an office in Japan, the military alliance is unlikely to get involved in any potential conflict in Asia.
