France blocks the opening of a NATO office in Tokyo.
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The French and Japanese air forces completed four days of aerial combat exercises in Japan last weekend, the first of their kind between the two allies. But even as Paris seeks to build its military alliances in the Indo-Pacific region, its government blocked proposals to open a NATO liaison office in Tokyo. Henry Ridgwell reports for VOA from Japan.
For the plane-spotting public - and for Japan itself - this was something new. French fighter jets flying alongside Japanese warplanes. The joint aerial drills are part of a larger French exercise codenamed Pegase 2023 taking place across the Indo-Pacific, including in French island territories.
“It’s natural that France, a resident nation of the Indo-Pacific, is particularly concerned by the geopolitical tensions felt in the region as a result of competition between the great powers.”
Those tensions are also felt by NATO – which cites China as a challenge to alliance interests. Security analyst Michito Tsuruoka.
“NATO’s interest is very much affected by what takes place in the Indo-Pacific region. So that means that NATO has to be more engaged for its own interest.”
At its latest summit in July, NATO debated opening a liaison office in Tokyo. But Emmanuel Macron, the president of NATO member France, blocked the move – despite its close alliance with Japan. Fabrice Pothier is a former NATO head of policy planning.
“It’s pretty clear that President Macron wants to avert any sort of escalation, or dynamic that could lead to escalation, with China.”
Japan and France say their joint exercise aims to ‘promote the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.’
But does NATO have a role in that vision? It’s a question the alliance - and its allies in the region - have yet to decide.
Henry Ridgwell for VOA News, at the Nyutabaru Air Base in southern Japan.
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Thanks for watching VOA Asia Weekly. I’m Chris Casquejo. Until next week.
We leave you now at a Chinese zoo at the center of a man or bear debate. Video showed a sun bear standing on its legs inside its enclosure as visitors looked on. Chinese netizens questioned if the bear was a man dressed in a costume, due to the bear's humanlike stance and folds of loose skin on its back. The zoo responded that it was indeed a bear.
