By Li Jiabao

李嘉宝

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi recently confirmed in an interview with the US media that the Kishida government is currently in talks to open a NATO liaison office in Tokyo. According to the Japanese media, the liaison office scheduled to be put into service by the end of 2024 will be the first NATO liaison site in Asia, which is intended for regular consultations with NATO's key regional partners including Japan, ROK, Australia and New Zealand, as well as coordination with other Asian countries.

近日，日本外相林芳正在接受美媒采访时证实，日本政府正就在东京开设北约联络处一事谈判。据日媒报道，该联络处将于2024年底前开设，将是北约设在亚洲的第一个联络处，主要用于与日本、韩国、澳大利亚、新西兰等地区主要伙伴进行定期磋商，并联络其他亚洲国家。

NATO's ambition to encroach on Asia-Pacific has been laid bare in recent years. In the NATO 2030 initiative, NATO identified Australia, Japan, ROK and New Zealand as its four partner countries, and explicitly proposed to expand its influence from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region and even to the whole world. In 2022, these four Asia-Pacific countries were first invited to attend the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and summit meeting, and ROK and Japan successively joined the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). In addition, some NATO countries have strengthened military cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries and frequently conducted joint military exercises in the region to hype tensions. In January 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Japan and ROK and alleged that the alliance must work more closely with partners in the region to cope with global threats and challenges.

近年来，北约试图染指亚太的野心暴露无遗。在北约2030改革方案中，北约确定澳大利亚、日本、韩国和新西兰为四大伙伴国，明确提出要将北约影响力“从欧洲拓展至亚太地区乃至全球”。2022年，这4个亚太国家首次受邀参加北约外长会及北约峰会；韩、日两国先后加入北约下属的网络防御合作中心。此外，部分北约国家还加强与亚太国家间的军事合作，多次在亚太地区举行联合军演，渲染紧张气氛。今年1月，北约秘书长斯托尔滕贝格到访日韩，声称北约必须和自己的伙伴“频繁接触”，以应对来自世界的“威胁”和“挑战”。

As a regional military alliance treaty organization mainly composed of North American and European countries, why does NATO frequently demonstrate its presence in the Asia-Pacific?

作为主要由北美及欧洲国家组成的区域性军事同盟条约组织，北约为何频频来亚太刷存在感？

NATO is a product of the Cold War. However, this organization did not collapse but expanded continuously after the end of the Cold War. In recent years, NATO has increasingly radiated its influence to the Asia-Pacific for the sake of its so-called globalization development goal, in an attempt to drag Japan, the ROK and other Asia-Pacific countries in by playing up security anxieties. Meanwhile, the expansion of NATO in Asia-Pacific largely works in concert with the strategic layout of the US. Since Biden took office, the US had been patching together small cliques by wooing some Asia-Pacific countries and persistently deepening the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy" in the name of promoting regional cooperation. From solidifying the Five Eyes alliance and peddling the QUAD to cobbling together the AUKUS and tightening the bilateral military alliance, the US is trying to copy the NATO model to the Asia-Pacific and build the so-called Indo-Pacific version of NATO to safeguard its global hegemony.

北约是冷战的产物。不过冷战结束后，北约并未随之瓦解，反而走上扩张道路。近年来，为实现所谓“全球化”发展目标，北约逐步增强在亚太地区的力量投射，试图通过渲染安全焦虑，将日、韩等亚太国家卷进来。同时，北约在亚太手越伸越长，很大程度上是配合美国的战略布局。拜登政府上台后，美国打着促进“地区合作”的旗号，拉拢一些亚太国家拼凑“小圈子”，不断深化所谓“印太战略”。从强化“五眼联盟”、兜售“四边机制”，到拼凑美英澳三边安全伙伴关系、收紧双边军事同盟，美国试图将北约模式复制到亚太，打造所谓“印太版北约”，以维护其全球霸权。

Under the laborious inveiglement of the US, some of its Asia-Pacific allies seek to take the opportunity of NATO's involvement in this region to expand their own military power and enhance their discourse in regional and global affairs through a closer partnership with this organization. As the vanguard of NATO, Japan also fantasizes to gain recognition of its great power identity and reshape its status as a military and political powerhouse in Asia by relying on NATO and the US behind it.

在美国的极力拉拢下，美国的部分亚太盟友借北约染指亚太之机扩充本国军力，谋求通过加强与北约的合作提升自身在地区及全球事务中的话语权。作为北约“急先锋”的日本还妄图借北约及其背后的美国，换取对日本“大国身份”的认可，重塑其“亚洲军政大国”地位。

Over the years, it has been noticed by all the people in Asia-Pacific and the world that NATO led by the US has wantonly waged wars against sovereign countries and created conflicts and turmoil around the world time after time, which violated international law and basic norms governing international relations and devastatingly undermined world peace and stability. While the Ukraine crisis triggered by the eastward expansion of NATO is still fermenting, this organization further attempts to create new turbulence in the Asia-Pacific. The NATO 2022 Strategic Concept document straightly deemed Russia as "the most significant and direct threat" and first named China as a "systemic challenge" to the alliance. This typical Cold War mentality runs counter to the mainstream tendency of peace and development globally. As to the plot of the US and NATO to divert disasters eastward, the vast majority of Asia-Pacific countries have clearly discerned and firmly said no. Several regional allies of the US should also figure out that beggar-thy-neighbor policies will only degrade their security situation and that setting the cat among the pigeons will inevitably set fire to themselves.

多年来，美国领导下的北约穷兵黩武，多次违反国际法和国际关系基本准则，肆意对主权国家发动战争，在全球各地制造冲突和动乱，严重破坏世界和平与稳定，亚太人民和世界人民都看在眼里。因北约东扩而引爆的乌克兰危机仍在发酵，北约又企图在亚太制造新的动荡。《北约2022战略概念》文件直指俄罗斯是“最大且直接的威胁”，并首次点名中国称对北约构成“系统性挑战”。这是典型的冷战思维，与当今世界和平与发展的主流背道而驰。对于美国和北约“祸水东引”的图谋，绝大多数亚太国家看得明白，坚决说“不”。美国的个别亚太盟友也应当想清楚，“以邻为壑”只会让自己更不安全，“引狼入室”的结果必定是“引火烧身”。

Editor's note: Originally published on people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.