Black hand relentlessly pushing NATO eastward: China Daily editorial

It seems that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's plan to set up an outpost in Japan was temporarily shelved at the just-concluded leaders' summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, as it did not make it into the communique the alliance issued afterward.

Division over the plan was reported even before the summit kicked off, with French President Emmanuel Macron insisting that the geographical expansion would risk shifting the alliance's remit too far from its original North Atlantic focus.

That the world's biggest military alliance's ambition to expand its presence and influence into East Asia is being driven by the US should be evident to all.

The summit's communique was intended as a show of unity but it failed to cover up the differences that exist among the NATO members.

Apart from taking the Japan plan off the table for now, NATO also failed to set a timetable for Ukraine's membership, which drew much ire from the Ukrainian president, who called it "unprecedented and absurd". While some Eastern European members are pressing for an explicit commitment on when Ukraine will join, the United States and Germany are reluctant to give a timetable.

And although the communique mentioned China 15 times, alleging that "China's stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values" and that China poses "systemic challenges" to the alliance, this is little more than a sop to the US, since it is copybook rhetoric of the Joe Biden administration.

Nonetheless, although some of the other members may be digging in their heels, it is still the US that is calling the shots for NATO, and it will continue to push for the alliance to have a greater presence in the Asia-Pacific. The Biden administration has been cajoling and encouraging the US' regional allies, the so-called Indo-Pacific Four — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea — to become more involved in the administration's "Indo-Pacific strategy", and all four strengthened their cooperation with NATO at the summit.

The four countries, which have been part of NATO's "global partners" grouping since the early 2010s, are transitioning to the Individually Tailored Partnership Programs to both expand and institutionalize cooperation with the alliance in areas such as counterterrorism cooperation, arms reduction and non-proliferation, emerging technologies, cybersecurity, science and technology and cooperation for interoperability. That NATO is strengthening ties with the US' allies in the Asia-Pacific is an ill trend that will put regional peace and stability in jeopardy, and exacerbate bloc confrontation.

The security fabric in Europe is already in tatters. The world should remain on high alert now that the US is setting NATO's sights on the Asia-Pacific.