Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea joined NATO defense ministers meetings in mid-October 2024 and agreed to bolster cooperation against attempts to alter the status quo through force or coercion.
The ministers met in Brussels, Belgium, amid growing belligerence by the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea and elsewhere, and Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. They discussed joint efforts to boost cyber defenses, defense production and innovation; counter information manipulation; and harness technology, including artificial intelligence, according to the 32-member security alliance. They also consulted on support for Ukraine.
“The war in Ukraine has shown that instability in Europe can have far-reaching consequences across the world, and that countries thousands of miles away — as far away as Iran, China and even North Korea — can become security spoilers in our own backyard,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a news release. “Our world is closely linked and so is our security.”
A week after the NATO meeting, South Korea, Ukraine and the United States said 3,000 North Korean troops were training in Russia.
“If they’re co-belligerents — if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf — that is a very, very serious issue,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “It will have impacts, not only in Europe. It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”
Before the ministerial meeting, Rutte called the PRC “a decisive enabler of what’s happening in Ukraine, supporting Russia’s war effort by sanctions circumvention, by dual use [goods].” NATO’s partnership with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, he said, “is not only about China. It is a broader partnership, acknowledging that our two regions are interconnected.”
The U.S. is working with Allies and Partners to remove barriers among European alliances, Indo-Pacific coalitions and other like-minded nations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said before a NATO summit in July 2024 in Washington, D.C. He called it “part of the new landscape.”
For Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised awareness about the potential repercussions in the Indo-Pacific from threats to European security — not only in terms of effects on economies, energy and food security, but also because of the signals Russia’s rejection of the rules-based international order sends to the PRC and North Korea, Mirna Galic, a senior policy analyst at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, wrote in April 2024.
The bond between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners continues to strengthen. Leaders from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea participated in a NATO summit for the first time in 2022 and did so again in 2023 and 2024. The partners bring regional insights and perspectives to the alliance and “they boast qualities that make them attractive counterparts for NATO nations: Professional militaries subject to the rule of law, high levels of economic development, and status as established democracies with strong human rights records,” the USIP reported in February 2024.
Japan’s space capabilities, for instance, could be valuable in NATO’s relatively new domain. Japan and the alliance have discussed space security issues in “high level consultations and engagements,” according to Giorgi Cioni, head of NATO’s Armament and Aerospace Capabilities Directorate.
The discussions allowed NATO to identify areas of potential cooperation, including sharing space data and developing joint capabilities, Cioni said at the Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in mid-October 2024 in Tokyo, National Defense magazine reported.
“Japan’s active participation in these efforts demonstrates the strength of our partnership and our shared commitments to maintain security and stability in space,” he said.
