Cooperation by U.S., allies a step toward Asian NATO: N Korea media

From Chubby Kim’s lips to (preferred deity’s) ears, buddy.

A group of Asian democracies committed to collective self-defense in the face of authoritarian expansionist dictatorships with no respect for sovereignty.

THAT sounds like a good idea.

An excellent idea to have a defensive organization like NATO in Asia, but even better if NATO itself went world wide for qualifying democracies.

An Asian version of NATO to protect democratic nations from the likes of China and North Korea is an excellent idea. But as already pointed out, with Russia and China openly sitting on the same side of the table, simply expanding thr role of NATO may be a faster and easier route.

The change in South Korea's attutude towards Japan and it's own defense as indicated by the new Yoon adnministration is a crucial component for this to work.

An Asian version of NATO doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. Only problem is there aren’t many democracies in Asia. You got Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, India… maybe there are more but that’s just off the top of my head. North Korea should really stop screwing itself and doing everything that is against its own self interest. North Korea is like a rabid poodle. Nasty but not that deadly. Euthanize it and get a rabies shot.

The two main characteristics of NATO countries are that they have one shared enemy Russia and they have no territorial disputes with each other. These two characteristics make NATO's existence meaningful and feasible.

And so called Asian NATO does not have these two characteristics at all, as we all know Japan has territorial disputes with all its neighbors. And who’s the shared enemy for so called Asian NATO? It’s China，Russia or North korea? Ironically, Japan is actually the shared enemy of the three countries. And don't forget that South Korea also has deep hatred for Japan.

Whilst the planet is moving back to the Cold War model and an Asian NATO may be necessary given the abject feebleness of ASEAN, that won't affect North Korea. Reunification with North Korea, enforced or elective, would bankrupt South Korea. So Pyongyang have nothing to worry about. Unless Putin decides to expand into Asia.

So, the war spreads to Asia...

NATO is attempting to bring Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand into its underpowered alliance:

NATO should stop looking for “imaginary enemies” in the Asia-Pacific and never be allowed to set up a version of the bloc in the region, China’s envoy to the UN has said.

“We firmly oppose certain elements clamoring for NATO’s involvement in the Asia-Pacific, or an Asia-Pacific version of NATO on the back of military alliances,” Zhang Jun said at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

The diplomat’s statement came after Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand were invited for the first time to attend the annual NATO summit, which opened on Tuesday in Madrid, Spain.

John Kirby, a senior White House security official, said last week that the participation of the four nations was not an attempt to forge “an Asian version of NATO,” but “an indication of the linkage of global security between Europe and the Indo-Pacific.”

Translation: they’re not attempting to forge an Asian version of NATO, they’re going to bring their Asian satrapies into NATO.

This is complete nonsense. All four states don’t even begin to counterbalance the military and economic weight of China. But it could be worse; they could have invited the island of Taiwan to join NATO, although I suppose we can’t entirely rule out the possibility that they’ll be dumb enough to do that too.

And China is clearly not happy with NATO’s actions.

As a product of the Cold War and the world’s largest military alliance, NATO has long clung to the outdated security concept and become a tool for certain country to maintain hegemony. NATO’s so-called new Strategic Concept is just “old wine in a new bottle”. It still has not changed the Cold War mentality of creating imaginary enemies and bloc confrontation. We solemnly urge NATO to immediately stop spreading false and provocative statements against China. What NATO should do is to give up the Cold War mentality, zero-sum game mindset and the practice of making enemies, and stop seeking to disrupt Asia and the whole world after it has disrupted Europe.

Zhao Lijian, Foreign Ministry, 28 June 2022

The most significant thing about NATO’s expansion to the South Pacific, other than the fact that the US military is now observably preparing for direct military conflict with both Russia and China, is that the Philippines were not invited, most likely to avoid the embarrassment of having the invitation declined. This suggests that the Philippines are continuing to exit the US orbit and will side with China once the war actually comes to the Pacific.

At the invitation of the Philippine government, Special Representative of President Xi Jinping and Vice President Wang Qishan will lead a delegation to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on June 30 in Manila, the Philippines.

CCTV: Could you share the arrangements for Vice President Wang Qishan’s trip to the Philippines and China’s expectation for the trip?

Zhao Lijian: China and the Philippines are close neighbors facing each other across the sea and important cooperation partners. China always sees the Philippines as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy. With the concerted efforts of both sides, China-Philippines relations have been growing with a sound momentum, delivering tangible benefits to both peoples. Not long ago, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with President-elect Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos. They reached important common understandings on staying committed to good-neighborliness and friendship and pursuing shared development, which pointed the way forward for bilateral relations.

Vice President Wang Qishan’s upcoming trip to the Philippines as President Xi Jinping’s Special Representative for President Marcos’ inauguration ceremony fully demonstrates the great importance China attaches to the Philippines and bilateral relations. We believe this trip will help both sides to carry forward our friendship, cement mutual trust, expand cooperation, open up broader prospects for bilateral relations, and bring more benefits to both countries and peoples.

So, does anyone still seriously believe all this is just about Ukraine?

The two main characteristics of NATO countries are that they have one shared enemy Russia and they have no territorial disputes with each other.

Not accurate. Turkey and Greece have long standing territorial disputes that are very well documented. Not to mention the Spain and UK dispute over Gibraltar.

Any new defensive organization may or may not use the NATO model, but so long as they are for mutual defense as NATO is then it can work just as well as NATO does.

Ego Sum Lux MundiToday  07:25 pm JST

So, the war spreads to Asia...

NATO is attempting to bring Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand into its underpowered alliance:

NATO is hardly "underpowered".

"NATO allies together have a personnel count of 5.41 million, compared to Russia's 1.35 million, according to the graphic that was the same as Statista's figures.

It also found NATO allies had 144,000 armored units, more than double that of Russia's 60,000, again a similar number to Statista.

NATO once more outnumbered Russia with 20,700 aircraft, a factor of nearly five to one when compared to Russia's 4,170.

Russia is also outnumbered in regard to its naval forces, which number 605—far lower than NATO's 2,049—once again a similar number to Statista."

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-nato-military-strength-comparison-goes-viral-amid-rising-tension-1683269

North Korea is a clear and present danger, if Japan and South Korea do not UNIT in the face of this threat, the outcome will be Disastrous.

There is little benefit in expanding NATO. It is a defensive alliance and as such the vast majority of its constituent militaries are very regionally orientated. The only countries that have a capacity to project power in any meaningful way to the Pacific region are firstly the USA and to a lesser extent the UK and France. Asian countries feeling threatened by the china/russia/ North Korea triumvirate need to form an alliance of self interest. NATO as an organisation can provide moral, political, economic and to a limited extent military support but not the sort of security guarantee accorded its own members.

China, NK, Russia all cry babies and want to be bullies!! They don't want peace they want instability to continue to be crooks!

America is the lesser of two evils

It's true. America has done some horrible things, and the fact that Bush 2 and his cronies aren't rotting in jail for murdering hundreds of thousands of Iraqis based on a lie, is their national disgrace.

But at least America tries to promote democracy around the planet, and has a means of dealing with its own tyrants. China and Russia are both run by despots, both are anti-democratic, and both murderous regimes.

I'll take America any day. America is like a family member who got into drugs. Russia and China are like the cartels selling drugs to societies. Not even remotely a comparison.

An Asian version of NATO doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. Only problem is there aren’t many democracies in Asia. You got Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, India…

Singapore doesn't belong on your list. It is not even close to a democracy. The way things are going India and Philippines probably won't qualify either in another year or two.

Even if there were an Asian version of NATO my fear is that Japan and South Korea would behave more like NATO, cough cough, "allies" Turkey and Greece rather than like Germany and France. And obtw once upon a time there was an Asian version of NATO called SEATO. It fell apart in the 1970s and really only included three Asian nations, Pakistan, Thailand and Philippines. Australia and New Zealand aren't Asian nations per se but are sort of close. The other three US, UK and France were from other regions. South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were prohibited from joining under the terms of the Geneva Agreements that ended the First Indochina War.

An under-powered alliance you say?

Is that why the Mighty Red Army relies on tactical nukes in all its war-gaming? Because in its own war-games, it loses a conventional war to NATO decisively and is forced (Much as NATO was in the late 70s- early 80s to rely on nuclear retaliation, er.....”flexible response” to keep the soviets on their side if the border.) to “escalate to de-escalate” in order to maintain its territorial integrity?

That NATO? Upping its rapid response (first to fight guys, mind you. Not the follow-on forces) 7.5x to 300k? The side without the jack-in-the-box tanks. Underpowered?

Seen by Kim, NATO might as well be SPECTRE from the James Bond franchise.