Nato to set up liaison office in Tokyo, strengthen links in region: Report

TOKYO – The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) will set up a liaison office in Tokyo in 2024 and use it as a hub for cooperation with South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, the Nikkei reported on Tuesday.

China has described the plan as unwelcome.

Japan’s envoy to the US said in May that the US-led military alliance

was planning a Tokyo office, its

first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region – a plan that French President Emmanuel Macron objected to.

At the time, China said the Asia-Pacific did not welcome what it called “group confrontation”. It urged Japan to be “extra cautious on the issue of military security”, given its “history of aggression”.

The Nikkei report said Nato will deepen ties with its four major partners in the Pacific, preparing bilateral cooperation documents with each, which will be used as a base for collaboration on issues such as cyber security and space.

On a visit to Japan in January, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg pledged with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to strengthen ties in the face of “historic” security challenges, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s rising military power.

“Australia will have further updates on its partnership arrangements in due course,” a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

“All Nato partners are transitioning to the new Individually Tailored Partnership Programme process once their existing partnership arrangements are due for renewal,” the spokesman said in a statement.

Australia is already among five partners who are not Nato members but have enhanced opportunities for deeper cooperation, such as training and information sharing, to prepare for future crisis management, Nato said in April.

Mr Kishida has said that

his nation has no plans to join Nato

as a member or semi-member state. There were media reports at the time that Mr Kishida was arranging to attend a Nato summit in Lithuania in July.

South Korea’s presidential office said it had no comment when asked about the report. REUTERS