US 'Asian NATO' plan doomed to failure: Iranian paper

TEHRAN - Iran's English language newspaper Tehran Times has slammed the US idea of expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the Asia-Pacific region, saying it is doomed to failure as it lacks regional backing.

The paper on Wednesday published an article entitled "Asian NATO: US paranoia and fragility," highlighting a widely reported plan by the US-led military alliance NATO to expand to the Asia-Pacific region.

Quoting a Japanese newspaper report, the article said that NATO seeks to establish a liaison office in the Japanese capital of Tokyo in 2024 to use it as a center to cooperate with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, all of which are geographically close to China.

Intimidated by China's emergence as a superpower, the US aims to contain China based on the "paranoiac" assumption that Beijing seeks to "compete with or challenge" it on a global scale although China doesn't have such an intention, it said.

However, the US plan to create a replica of the NATO in the Asia-Pacific region is doomed to failure, as "it has consequences and at the same time lacks backing from many regional Asian countries" and even NATO allies, such as France, the article added.

In the past, the article said, the US attempt to create a replica of NATO in the Middle East had failed because the regional countries soon realized that it would bring instability to the region and decided to ensure their security by working together.

It warned that, as the US hegemony diminishes, Washington "is playing dangerous games around the world" through seeking to provoke conflicts elsewhere instead of pursuing diplomatic paths.

The article concluded that no one will benefit from a NATO-like military alliance in Asia apart from the US, which is accustomed to reaping economic dividends from crises in different parts of the world.