NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who is in Japan as part of his East Asia tour, yesterday said that “our security is closely interconnected” and called for stronger ties with Japan as Russia’s war in Ukraine raises global dangers and shows that democracies need stronger partnerships.
Japan has been quick to join US-led economic sanctions against Russia and provided humanitarian aid and non-combative defense equipment for the Ukrainians.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has warned that Russia’s aggression in Europe could happen in Asia, where concerns are growing over an already assertive China and its escalation of tensions around Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
Japan has also significantly stepped up ties with NATO recently.
“The war in Ukraine also demonstrates that our security is closely interconnected,” Stoltenberg said during his visit to Iruma Air Base, north of Tokyo, where he started his Japan visit yesterday after arriving late on Monday from South Korea.
“If [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin wins in Ukraine, it will be a tragedy for the Ukrainians, but it will also send a very dangerous message to authoritarian leaders all over the world because then the message will be that when they use military force they can achieve their goals,” he said. “So the war in Ukraine matters for all of us.”
Stoltenberg said that his visit to Japan “is a way to further strengthen the partnership between NATO and our highly valued partner Japan.”
He was yesterday to meet with Kishida and hold a joint news conference.
Japan, already a close ally of the US, has in the past few years expanded its military ties with other Indo-Pacific nations as well as with the UK, Europe and NATO amid growing security threats from China and North Korea.
Japan issued a new national security strategy in December stating its determination to build up its military and deploy long-range missiles to pre-empt enemy attacks in a major break from its post-World War II principle that limited itself to self-defense. Japan also hopes to further ease restrictions on arms export to bolster the country’s feeble defense industry.
While in South Korea on Monday, Stoltenberg called for South Korea to provide direct military support to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight off the prolonged Russian invasion.
So far, Seoul has only provided humanitarian aid and other support, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries in conflict.
Stoltenberg also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday and discussed Seoul’s commitment to support Ukraine and NATO’s possible role in dissuading North Korea from its growing nuclear ambitions following an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests last year, Yoon’s office said.
Stoltenberg on Sunday mentioned US intelligence reports accusing North Korea of providing weapons to Russia to support its war in Ukraine.
North Korea condemned his visits to South Korea and Japan, saying that NATO was trying to put its “military boots in the region” and attempting to pressure the US’ Asian allies into providing weapons to Ukraine.
In a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang criticized increasing cooperation between NATO and US allies in Asia as a process to create an “Asian version of NATO” that would raise tensions in the region.
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