French President Emmanuel Macron has opposed a NATO proposal to open an office in Tokyo because he believes the transatlantic security alliance should continue to focus on its own North Atlantic region.
The French resistance has complicated months of discussions within NATO about establishing the alliance’s first outpost in the Indo-Pacific region, according to eight people familiar with the matter.
The push to open a small base in Tokyo next year comes at a time when the United States and Japan are urging Europe to become more involved in Asian security issues, especially amid growing concerns about possible future Chinese military action against Taiwan.
But the decision comes as Beijing blasts U.S. efforts to build a so-called anti-China alliance in the Indo-Pacific region, likening it to an “Asian NATO”.
A French official said Paris believed NATO’s charter required the alliance to limit its geographic reach to the “North Atlantic”. But the official also said it could damage Europe’s credibility with China over the Ukraine war, especially in demanding that Beijing refrain from supplying Russia with weapons.
A person familiar with the internal NATO debate said France was reluctant to support anything that would “exacerbate tensions between NATO and China”.
Macron told a conference last week that NATO should not expand its sphere of influence beyond the North Atlantic, adding: “If … .
The resistance came two months after Macron suggested during a visit to China that Europe should distance itself from U.S.-China tensions over Taiwan, angering the U.S. and other allies.
The establishment of a new NATO office would require the unanimous support of the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top political decision-making body, which means France has the power to block the move. NATO declined to disclose details about “ongoing deliberations”.
The Japanese government declined to comment. But a Japanese official said Tokyo wanted to strengthen its relationship with the alliance. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Japan and NATO have been discussing opening a Tokyo office since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited NATO headquarters in 2007. Tokyo opened a NATO office in Brussels in 2018. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the first Japanese leader to attend a NATO summit last year and will attend the upcoming meeting in Lithuania in July.
NATO has more than a dozen liaison offices or missions around the world, such as in Ukraine and Moldova. Most are small and designed to help connect with the host country’s government and military.
Yuka Koshino, a Japan expert at the IISS think tank, said opening an office in Tokyo would make NATO’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific formal and sustainable.
“Kishida sees a close connection between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific strategic environments . . . and seeks ways to coordinate with like-minded partners,” Koshino said.
Nobukatsu Kanehara, a former senior official in the Abe administration, said Japan supported Ukraine because it believed problems at both ends of Eurasia were interconnected. “The relationship between Japan and NATO has become closer rapidly because they have China at heart,” he said.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Europe and Asia “have a direct stake in each other’s security” and must work together to avoid confrontation in the Indo-Pacific .