Why increase of US alliances in Asia does not mean an Asian NATO: Time
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Washington has been working to revive international bloc politics as part of its anti-China efforts.
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President Joe Biden, right, meets with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Akasaka Palace. on May 2022. (AP)
According to Time, the United State's attempt at increasing its alliances across Asia does not mean an "Asian NATO" will come up any time soon, but rather increased tensions.
US President Joe Biden is meeting with Japanese and South Korean presidents at Camp David in Maryland for a trilateral meeting allegedly aimed at strengthening security cooperation and agreeing on a joint project to develop an interceptor missile to counter hypersonic weapons.
The foreign ministers of the US, South Korea, and Japan held high-level talks in preparation for an upcoming trilateral leaders summit, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, noting that the discussions were conducted via an online conference.
Washington has been working to revive international bloc politics as part of its anti-China efforts.
The US plan constitutes the hyper-militarization of its allies and the formation of several global security pacts based on the nature of the objectives and required capabilities.
Earlier this week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol labeled Japan, the former colonial ruler of South Korea, as a "partner" sharing common values and interests.
Read more: US, S.Korea, Japan conduct missile drill in response to DPRK 'threats'
Along these lines, Washington is pushing both its allies to establish a NATO-like coalition in the Asia-Pacific region.
Asian NATO "not feasible"
Experts have told Time, however, that a US-led Asian defense alliance like NATO is not only unnecessary but also "not feasible."
According to Nicholas Szechenyi, deputy director for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Asia-Pacific region is “too diverse politically and economically” to hold an alliance similar to NATO.
For starters, he notes that Asian nations' views on the United States and China are far from uniform. Even though the US has found some allies in the Indo-Pacific, many states like Myanmar and Cambodia have regimes that are friends with China rather than the US. Meanwhile, other nations, such as India, have not sided with either the US or China.
Read next: Kissinger's secret war in Cambodia reveals mass killings: Intercept
The main reason, however, is economic reliance on China. According to analysis from the Economist Intelligence Unit, Beijing dominates Asian trade, with the majority of economies in the region holding two-way goods trade relationships with China and not Washington.
Szechenyi remarks that even though US allies in the region are "uncertain" about China's military plans, they still want to maintain economic interdependence with it.
Riley Walters, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in international economics and national security, believes any NATO-like alliance would be "redundant," since other bilateral and multilateral arrangements exist like the Quad, ANZUS, and individual alliances such as those with the Philippines and Japan and South Korea.
Walters points to evidence that there is no need to be an official member of NATO "to get NATO-like support," citing the recent invitations of Japan and South Korea to the transatlantic meeting early in the year.
China warns against 'NATO-like' alliances in Asia-Pacific
In June, China's Minister of National Defense, Li Shangfu, cautioned against the establishment of military alliances resembling NATO in the Asia-Pacific region, warning that such alliances would lead to a dangerous cycle of conflict.
"Attempts to push for NATO-like (alliances) in the Asia-Pacific is a way of kidnapping regional countries and exaggerating conflicts and confrontations," Li said at the top security summit in Singapore, the Shangri-La Dialogue, attended by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Although Li did not name the countries concerned with building such alliances, his statements come at a time of increased US military activity in the region, which could "plunge the Asia-Pacific into a whirlpool of disputes and conflicts."
"Today's Asia-Pacific needs open and inclusive cooperation, not buddying up into small cliques," the Chinese top official stressed at the security summit.
"We must not forget the severe disasters brought by the two world wars to peoples of all countries, and we must not allow such tragic history to repeat itself."
