The latest NATO summit in Washington, which showcased tighter cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, carries "historic value" to the security of the region, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said Thursday, noting that countries in Asia do not want to see "an untethered, unanchored China."
Speaking in Tokyo, Emanuel said the summit, which also saw Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea take part, reflected the "reality" of the increasingly inseparable security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions, citing how the growing Russia-China partnership has allowed Moscow's war against Ukraine to prolong.
The three-day NATO summit through Thursday in the U.S. capital marked the third consecutive year that the transatlantic military alliance has invited the four Indo-Pacific partners to participate at the highest levels.
Closer ties with the so-called IP4 are important because the nations are "clear-eyed about the consequences of China's actions on global security," and can bring to NATO countries "an authenticity" about what happens when China decides to use its economic and political leverage to target a certain country, he said.
The ambassador's remarks came as NATO leaders accused China of being a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war against Ukraine, in their harshest criticism yet of the Asian power, as they issued a joint declaration following their gathering on Wednesday.
The document also said NATO will advance "practical cooperation" with the four Indo-Pacific countries through new projects in the areas of support for Ukraine, cyber defense, countering disinformation and technology.
Emanuel said a further example of the growing cooperation among Japan and NATO members was an air exercise planned for July 19 east of Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, featuring planes and personnel from Japan, the United States and France.
As for the once-touted idea of opening a NATO liaison office in Japan, the U.S. ambassador was evasive about the prospects and suggested that actual collaborative efforts and exchanges between NATO and Japanese officials are more important than "symbolism."
In April, a senior U.S. diplomat acknowledged that NATO members were not actively discussing the establishment of such an office in Tokyo within the alliance. It has been reported that French President Emmanuel Macron expressed objections to what would be NATO's first outpost in Asia, a plan that China has also opposed.
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