“NATO does not seek to expand the alliance” Dai Ambassador Smith said in a press conference via phone on the afternoon of December 20 (Hanoi time). “This alliance has always been a Euro-Atlantic alliance and has no aspirations to become a global alliance in any form.”
Ambassador Smith gave the above answer when was asked to comment on some concerns that NATO is increasingly interacting in the Asia-Pacific and that this could affect regional stability.
In July this year NATO held its annual conference in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Among the participating countries are leaders of four non-NATO member countries: Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
This is the second consecutive year that NATO has invited Asian partners to attend. annual meeting. And the presence of these countries shows that NATO is increasingly thinking that events in the Indo-Pacific are related to transatlantic security. Anchal Vohra writes on Foreign Policy.
Ambassador Smith said that NATO does not try to reach out to partner countries but let the opponent take the initiative.
“We let countries evaluate for themselves whether they Do you see the value of interacting with the NATO alliance?” Ms. Smith emphasized. “We let countries promote their partnerships if they want to get closer on some topics.”
In interactions with Asia-Pacific countries NATO also once made China upset after publishing a joint statement in July. The joint statement accused China of economic coercion and warned the country not to provide assistance military for Russia.
Beijing reacted harshly, accusing NATO of looking for an excuse to expand into Asia and warned of a “resolute response”.
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