South Korea, Japan and Australia, these Pacific countries which are increasing the signs of rapprochement

These three countries maintain cooperative relations with NATO, but they also have other alliances on the Pacific side. Our correspondents on site explain these links.

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2024, some Pacific countries appear to be pushing for rapprochement with NATO in recent years, notably South Korea and Japan.

Australia, a close NATO ally, participates in its summits every year and wants more involvement from the organization in the Indo-Pacific region. But South Korea is leaving its diplomatic neutrality with its current president, who seeks to create a strong alliance with the United States and Japan. As for the head of the Japanese executive, who is also participating for the first time in summits since 2022, shows a clear desire to get closer to his American ally in the face of the Chinese threat.

South Korea: a rapprochement with the new president coming to power in 2022

Going to NATO summits was a first for a South Korean head of state. In Madrid in 2022, then in Vilnius in 2023, Yoon Suk-yeol made the trip and has just been invited to the summit in Washington next July. South Korea also has a diplomatic mission in Brussels to NATO. So many symbols of a high-speed rapprochement and a drastic break made by the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol: historically, South Korea preserved its relations with Russian and Chinese neighbors in the hope of finding a positive outcome to the inter-Korean conflict. This position pushed the country to keep a certain distance from the American military ally and NATO. But upon coming to power on May 10, 2022, the current president changed almost everything: rapprochement with Japan after years of complicated relations against a backdrop of historical disagreement, realignment with the interests of the United States in the region, sale of arms to Poland and sharing of information in the field of cybersecurity and defense with NATO.

The trilateral alliance with Washington and Tokyo

However, NATO membership is not yet popular in South Korea and it is not a very present subject in public debates either. Especially since China is using all its influence to limit its neighbor’s cooperation with the Atlanticist Organization. The priority in Seoul is above all to strengthen the beginning of the trilateral alliance with Washington and Tokyo. The government wants in particular to establish mechanisms that would make it possible to perpetuate this alliance beyond a political alternation. The democratic opposition is indeed not in favor of rapprochement with Japan and alignment with the West. And then, around the conflict in Europe, Yoon Suk-yeol remains cautious: if he sells his weapons to the countries supporting Kiev, he refuses to supply them directly to Ukraine. So if we remain quite far from a possible mutual defense treaty with NATO member countries, we should see continued participation by Seoul in summits as well as extensive military collaboration in the coming years.

Australia: the country is in favor of a rise in NATO power in the Indo-Pacific

Among non-NATO countries, Australia is one of its closest allies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (NIZI) also participated in the Vilnius summit in 2023. He was also invited to the one which will be held this year in Washington. Australia is not a full member of NATO only because it is not in the North Atlantic. Pbecause in terms of values ​​or vision of geopolitical issues, Australia is totally aligned with those of NATO.

The country participated in several operations led by NATO, such as the international coalition against Daesh, the anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia, or even in Afghanistan until 2021 when American troops withdrew. Like Joe Biden, and unlike Emmanuel Macron, Anthony Albanese would like NATO to become more involved in the Indo-Pacific region to counter the rise of China. In 2023 in Vilnius, he explained to his counterparts that, for him, there is a direct link between security in the North Atlantic and in the Indo-Pacific.

The Aukus alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom

Without being a member of NATO, Australia has, however, been part of the Aukus pact, since September 2021, alongside the United States and the United Kingdom. And if we look closely, Aukus is an alliance between Westerners which aims to ensure peace and collective security, freedom of navigation, the rule of law and above all to contain the rise in power of a regime perceived as hostile, by the occurrence China. We can conclude that Aukus is in fact a kind of Pacific NATO. Behind the famous nuclear submarines that Australia hopes to obtain from its allies, there is a real desire to strengthen interoperability between the armies of the three countries. Furthermore, and even if we are still very far away, it cannot be ruled out that Aukus will one day integrate new members, particularly Japan.

Japan: getting closer to NATO is a sought-after deterrent force against China

Japan, another ally of the United States in Asia, has also moved closer to NATO countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It seems difficult to officially extend the Organization to Japan. But the current Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, shows as much, if not more, than his predecessors the desire to make his country count more on the international scene, as a relay power for the United States and NATO in Asia. In 2022 and 2023, Fumio Kishida was the first Japanese chief executive to participate in a NATO summit. It should be the same this year.

Discussions even took place on the installation of a NATO representative office in Tokyo, which was strongly opposed by French President Emmanuel Macron. He feared that this would send too threatening a message to China and Asian countries who do not want to choose between Beijing and Washington. Furthermore, Japan, a Pacific country, does not fall within the geographical scope of an organization based in the North Atlantic.

In any case, NATO or not, Kishida will make an official visit to the United States next week. Japanese Prime Minister and US President Joe Biden will discuss expanding their military cooperation. This involves establishing better operational and command coordination between the American army stationed in Japan and the Japanese self-defense forces. The goal is reinforced deterrence vis-à-vis China.