Japan and NATO must remain "
united and firm
" vis-à-vis the security threats posed by China, North Korea and Russia, said Tuesday January 31 in Tokyo Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the organization US-European defense.
Jens Stoltenberg, speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, warned that Beijing was closely following developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine and "
learning lessons from it that could influence its future decisions
".
Stay united and firm
"
What is happening in Europe today could also happen tomorrow in East Asia,
" he said, thus taking up an opinion already expressed since last year by Fumio Kishida.
“
So we must remain united and firm, to defend freedom and democracy together
,” added Jens Stoltenberg, Fumio Kishida and he declaring themselves in particular “
worried
” about the growing military cooperation between China and Russia.
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China is "
not our enemy
", assured Jens Stoltenberg, while denouncing its growing military presence in Asia-Pacific, its "
harassment
" of neighboring countries, its "
threats
" towards Taiwan and disinformation campaigns aimed at the Ukraine and NATO.
The NATO Secretary General arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday as part of a trip to Asia aimed at strengthening the organization's ties with its main allies in the region, South Korea and Japan.
Aid to Ukraine
Monday, January 30 in Seoul, he called on South Korea to "
intensify
" its military aid to Ukraine, suggesting that it revise its policy of not supplying arms to countries at war.
However, on Tuesday he praised Japan's "
solid position
" and "
substantial support
" for Ukraine.
Tokyo imposed sanctions on Moscow in line with the other G7 countries and sent defensive equipment to kyiv, a rare initiative for the Japanese archipelago, which has a pacifist Constitution.
North Korea's provocative attitude
Jens Stoltenberg and Fumio Kishida also underlined their shared concerns about the "
provocative attitude
" of North Korea, which in 2022 fired a record number of ballistic missiles and claimed its "
irreversible
" status as a nuclear power. .
Fumio Kishida, who attended a NATO summit last June, a first for a Japanese leader, said on Tuesday that Tokyo would strengthen its ties with the organization, in particular by setting up an independent representative office and by planning to participate regularly in the summits of the political-military alliance.
Japan drastically revised its national security and defense doctrine at the end of 2022, notably providing for a virtual doubling of its military expenditure by 2027 to bring it to 2% of its GDP, on the model of a principle of the countries NATO members.
