French President Emmanuel Macron has voiced his opposition to a NATO proposal to open a liason office in Japan, arguing that the security alliance should contain its focus on its own region.
NATO’s Geographical Reach Must be Limited
A report by the Financial Times (FT) anonymously cited a French official, who said that Paris believed NATO’s charter required the alliance to limit its geographic reach to the “North Atlantic.”
A source familiar with the ongoing debate inside NATO told FT that France was reluctant to back anything “that contributes to NATO-China tension”.
Moreover, Macron said at a conference last week that NATO should refrain from expanding its reach beyond the North Atlantic. “If . . . we push NATO to enlarge the spectrum and the geography, we will make a big mistake,” he stressed.
Opposition Thwarts Move
The FT report also quoted eight other people familiar with the matter, saying that resistance from Paris has complicated months of discussion within the grouping, as it looks to set up the alliance’s first office in the Indo-Pacific region.
As the office in Tokyo would require unanimous support from all NATO members, France holds the power to thwart the move.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron stated today that he Objects to a recent NATO-Proposal to Open a Indo-Pacific Partnership Office and Operations Base in Tokyo, Japan because the NATO Alliance should currently be Focusing on the North Atlantic Region as the name and… pic.twitter.com/ex9jTGAjay
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 6, 2023
NATO, Japan, and the US have declined to give details about “ongoing deliberations.” However, a Japanese official told the news outlet that the Asian nation wished to strengthen ties with the trans-Atlantic security alliance.
To this end, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, who became the first Japanese leader last year to attend a NATO summit, will also participate in the grouping’s upcoming meeting in Lithuania next month.
Resistance from France comes after Macron ruffled feathers in the West in April by suggesting, during an official visit to China, that Europe should not be a “follower” of the US or China, as the two superpowers’ tensions rise over Taiwan.
Chinese Response
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that “Asia lies beyond [NATO’s] geographical scope… and has no need for a replica of NATO.”
Referring to NATO being “bent on going east into this region, interfering in regional affairs and inciting bloc confrontation,” the spokesperson raised calls for “high vigilance” among Asian countries.
Asia opposes “the emergence of military blocs in the region” and does not “welcome NATO’s outreach in Asia,” Wang underscored.
“Japan should make the right call in keeping with the region’s stability and development interests and refrain from doing anything that may undermine mutual trust between regional countries and peace and stability in the region,” the spokesperson concluded.