Western military bloc is reportedly set to open first office in Japan as US pushes ‘bloc confrontation’ politics to the region
go through Timur Fomenkopolitical analyst
Japan is reportedly planning to open a NATO liaison office in Tokyo.The office will be the first of its kind in Asia and is earmarked for “coordination” Alliances on security matters and China.
The U.S. is known to seek to expand and institutionalize military alliances into Asia and expand its global footprint, an idea inspired by the conflict in Ukraine and called upon by many high-ranking figures in the West. This shows that the organization has long since abandoned its original intention and become a tool for hegemony and domination, far from the so-called “defensive” alliance in a specific geographical area of the world that it once claimed.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been arguably the most militarily aggressive US president in decades, even stronger than George W. Bush’s presidency in this case. Instead of merely pursuing smaller regime-change operations after the horrors of 9/11, Biden has heightened tensions with major powers. In the process, Biden is actively seeking to expand alliances such as NATO, create new mechanisms such as AUKUS, push Europe to the brink of war with Russia, and prepare to deploy new nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. While former President Donald Trump sought to shrink NATO and make it more financially self-reliant, the Biden administration has made no secret of trying to “globalize” it.
NATO north atlantic The treaty organization, once designed as a mechanism for collective regional self-defense in fragile post-World War II Western Europe, has powers comparable to the Warsaw Pact. After the end of the Cold War, the United States became the undisputed hegemon, and NATO transformed from a purely military alliance centered on the balance of power into a tool for realizing the interests and security goals of the United States. In doing so, the US sought to transform the alliance into a “permanent order of things” and betrayed a promise that post-Soviet Russia would not expand eastward.
But now, with the U.S. increasingly viewing China as its greatest adversary, it wants to “globalize” NATO into Asia and link it to existing U.S. alliances in the region, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia. Traditionally, the United States has only pursued these alliances on a “bilateral scale,” which is generally easier to defend U.S. interests because Asian countries are less universal and more prone to nationalist conflicts than Western European ones. For example, South Korea has little political space to cooperate with Japan. Even though President Yoon is trying to do so, his popularity is slipping due to his supposed capitulation to Tokyo.
Still, the US wants to make these alliances multilateral. Even if NATO cannot be formally expanded, it believes its influence can be increased by strengthening intelligence, armaments and other forms of cooperation. So while not all NATO countries would come to Taiwan’s aid should a conflict break out with China, the US may aim to create an “alliance” that would work together in the same way as the alliance that supported Ukraine, namely, to provide a never-stop Supply of weapons, intelligence, logistics, combat support, etc. In other words, whether or not the United States is directly involved, NATO will wage war against China through proxies, just as it waged war against Russia in Ukraine. This of course seriously increases the military risk in the region.
So, how does China respond to this attempt at “alliance siege”? First, it could strengthen relations with Russia and work towards a deeper balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region. Second, it could revive old alliances and strengthen its military partnership with North Korea. After all, under the 1961 Mutual Assistance Treaty, North Korea is still obliged to aid China in war and can be used to contain Japan and South Korea. Third, it could seek new military partnerships with regional states that also feel threatened by U.S. expansionism; for example, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. While other ASEAN countries may remain neutral, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (excluding the US-aligned Philippines), China should work to improve relations with these countries to prevent the US from trying to “force” them to make a choice .
The expansion of NATO’s influence into Asia will ultimately pose a threat to the stability, security and certainty of the entire region. Driven by the United States, it seeks to import the politics of “group confrontation” into the region and subvert its integration in order to ensure the hegemony of the United States over it. China faces the challenge of balancing its own security interests with ensuring that conflict does not erupt amid the turmoil. In any case, under the foreign policy of the Biden administration, the entire region has been caught in an increasingly tense arms race that can only be described as hegemonic, expansionist, and aggressive.
Statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
