Presence of leaders of the four countries shows that both those countries want to develop relations with NATO and also European countries have placed paying attention to the Asia Pacific in the agenda of missions of NATO. If we look back, China has not been mentioned at all in the 2010 document on strategic concept of NATO titled \u201cActive Engagement, Modern Defense\u201d; however, NATO\u2019s perception of China\u2019s threat and consequently the Asia-Pacific region has changed gradually.
\nThe most important manifestation of that change in perception was revealed in the statement of the NATO summit in 2021, in which it is pointed out that China\u2019s growing influence could create challenges that NATO as an alliance should put them on its agenda. According to the statement, China\u2019s declared goals and its bold behavior are a systematic challenge for the international rule-based order. In addition, \u201cNATO Vision 2030\u201d, which was approved by the members in July 2021, while listing China and Russia as countries that weaken such order, also deals with the issue that the rise of China will fundamentally change the balance of power.
\nThe same issue has been referred to in NATO\u2019s strategic concept, which was approved on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. According to the new document, China\u2019s declared goals and ambitions challenge the interests, security and values of the members. Also, the deepening of the Beijing-Moscow strategic partnership has been described as a factor weakening the rule-based international order. The same thing has been repeated in the statement of the Madrid meeting. Such emphasis clearly show the change of attitude of NATO towards the People\u2019s Republic of China.
\nAt the same time, in order to understand NATO\u2019s approach to the Asia-Pacific, the individual or bilateral or multilateral actions and policies of European countries through cooperation with the United States or cooperation with regional countries cannot be ignored. In the meantime, the United States is considered to be an activist that has played a serious role in guiding European countries to adopt a tougher approach against China and its increasing presence in the Asia-Pacific. In the Indo-Pacific strategy document of the White House, which was published in February 2022, while pointing to the attention of American allies and partners outside the Asia-Pacific to this region, it is claimed that the United States seeks to link the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic with other regions through joint agendas that will also be the motivation and reason for collective action. The call made by Ben Sasse, the US Republican Senator, for establishing \u201cPacific NATO\u201d is significant in this regard.
\nHowever, it is also necessary to point out that although some European countries had previously expressed concern about the rise of China, the war in Ukraine prepared the ground for greater coordination between the United States and Europe; in other words, the coordination of the parties will not be limited to European issues. In addition, the war in Ukraine has led to increased concerns among China\u2019s rival countries in the Asia-Pacific; because it has fueled some kind of insecurity feeling in those countries.
\nOn the other hand, Beijing, expressing concern about those developments, considers it as the expansion of that military bloc to the Asia-Pacific. Wang Van Bin, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, claimed that NATO has already disturbed the stability in Europe, therefore, it should not pursue such measure in the Asia-Pacific and the entire world. This comment shows well the Chinese perception of the current developments.
\nIn general, such developments show that the security dynamics of the Asia-Pacific region have seriously changed compared to the past. The emphasis of the United States and its allies on the mechanism of the \u201cQuadrilateral Security Dialogue\u201d, known as \u201cQUAD\u201d, establishment of ACOs, the initiative of the \u201cPartners in the Blue Pacific\u201d consisting of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Britain, or Beijing\u2019s efforts to advance the \u201cVision of Joint Development\u201d with an aim of developing relations with the Pacific islands, along with the expansion of competitions and military activities, show the changes achieved. At the same time, as a concluding point, it can be said that cooperation of partners outside the Asia-Pacific with the US policies in this region can be considered as a serious success for the foreign policy of the Biden administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Strategic Council Online – Opinion: The recent NATO meeting in Spain on 29-30 of June 2022, regardless of the fact that it was held during the Ukraine crisis and the approach of the alliance to that crisis, reveals the issue of joining new members and the future direction of the alliance is important for another reason which is the presence of heads of four the Asian countries, namely Australia, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand, in that meeting, which are considered as being among NATO\u2019s global partners. This shows the importance of examining NATO\u2019s attitude towards the Asia-Pacific region.
\nMohammad Javad Ghahermani – Expert on China issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":144730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13268,17,12726],"tags":[22664,35376,12869,26637,13319,35379,35378,30660,13070,31404],"class_list":["post-144810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-note","category-politics","category-10-en-2","tag-asia-pacific","tag-aukus","tag-china-en","tag-euro-atlantic","tag-nato-en","tag-nato-vision-2030","tag-partners-in-the-blue-pacific","tag-quad","tag-russia-en","tag-ukraine-war"],"yoast_head":"\n