Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
On May 24, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that his country has no intention of becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but said that NATO plans to open a liaison office in Japan.
Speaking in parliament , Mr. Kishida affirmed that Japan has no plans to join NATO as a member or semi-member.
Kyodo news agency said Mr. Kishida is arranging to attend a NATO summit in July in Lithuania.
On the sidelines of the conference, Mr. Kishida is expected to have a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss plans to open a NATO liaison office in Tokyo.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi affirmed on May 9 that Tokyo and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have a long-standing relationship and are discussing with member countries in the bloc about opening a NATO Liaison Office in the Northeast Asian country.
According to Foreign Minister Hayashi, Tokyo's proposal to NATO to open a liaison office in Japan is to deal with emerging security challenges in the region, especially since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, as well as the North Korean nuclear issue...
He said the conflict in Ukraine has had a cross-border impact in Europe, making the world more unstable, forcing Japan to recalculate its security posture in the region.
CNN assessed that the opening of a NATO Liaison Office in Japan marks an important development for the Western military alliance amid geopolitical rifts. To date, NATO has opened liaison offices in Ukraine and Vienna (Austria).
The NATO Liaison Office in Japan, once operational, will serve as a forum for NATO to expand discussions with its security partners in the region such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
In his response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning called on Tokyo to be “cautious” about the security-related decision.
Previously, during talks between NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on January 31, the two sides agreed to elevate security cooperation in the new situation.
The joint statement after the talks emphasized the need to further strengthen cooperation between Japan and NATO in the context of the current changing strategic environment.
Both sides agreed that the international community is facing epochal changes and increasingly fierce geopolitical competition.
The world is in the most complex and serious security environment since World War II.
Regarding Japan-NATO cooperation in the new strategic environment, the two sides highly appreciated the development of Japan-NATO cooperation in addressing communications security challenges such as maritime security, arms control, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.
In addition, the two sides also determined to strengthen cooperation in other security areas such as outer space, cyberspace, strategic communications and intelligence, and consider expanding cooperation in the field of scientific research and defense technology.
In addition, aiming to elevate Japan-NATO cooperation in the new era, the two sides affirmed that they will strengthen strategic coordination on bilateral cooperation and use appropriate frameworks to discuss new directions in the future.
Secretary General Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Kishida welcomed NATO's participation as an observer in the Japan-US joint exercise in 2022 as a symbol of cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific region and will further expand this trend.
The Japanese leader expressed his intention to regularly participate in meetings of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) and the NATO Chiefs of Staff Conference.
Finally, the two sides expressed confidence that Japan-NATO cooperation will demonstrate its value in the current complex and harsh security environment, contributing to maintaining and strengthening a free and open international order based on the rule of law./.
According to VNA
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