TEHRAN - The idea of an “Asian NATO” is gathering steam, so who gains to benefit from this initiative?

More reports are surfacing that the U.S-led NATO military alliance is planning to expand to the Asia-Pacific region.

The idea was initially mooted by the U.S. President Joe Biden at an East Asia summit on October 27, 2021, where he stated “We envision an Indo-Pacific that is open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure—and we are ready to work together with each of you to achieve it.”

The White House later released a paper on February 11, 2022, titled Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States, which outlines the policies of President Joe Biden to restore "American leadership in the Indo-Pacific". 

Among the statements that stood out in the so-called "fact sheet" was the alleged U.S. need to forge stronger links with countries in the Asia region to meet the "urgent challenge" of "competition with China".

But NATO is a military bloc and has always had its presence in the North Atlantic region. It has militarized that region to the extent that a war has erupted in Europe for the first time since the Second World War. 

Whether countries in the Asia-Pacific want to see their region heavily militarized as well and led by the U.S. is subject to debate.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has been pushing for the expansion of the military alliance in Asia. He made this clear during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this year. 

Stoltenberg has claimed that “what happens in Asia matters for Europe and what happens in Europe matters for Asia, and therefore it is even more important that NATO allies are strengthening our partnership with our Indo Pacific partners.”

According to the Japanese Nikkei newspaper, NATO will establish a liaison office in Tokyo in 2024 and use it as a center to cooperate with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. 

The four countries are all geographically close to China, some neighbors, but all strategically located in the Asia-Pacific and share common interests with the U.S. and NATO. 

So, there is no need for nuclear science to establish that China is the target here. 

Speaking at a press briefing on 26 May, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson pointed out that "NATO’s attempt to make eastward inroads into the Asia-Pacific will inevitably undermine regional peace and stability."

Japan is planning to attend the upcoming NATO summit in July in Lithuania, where talks on setting up the NATO liaison office are expected to be discussed further. 

The U.S. plan of setting up a replica NATO military alliance in the Asia Pacific has consequences and at the same time lacks backing from many regional Asian countries. 

In the past, the U.S. tried to create a replica of NATO in the Persian Gulf but was unsuccessful in that pursuit. The countries of the region soon realized the instability that comes with such a move and are now instead working together to bring back security to their own region. 

This is why a replica NATO in Asia will also most likely fail because as much as the Biden administration is pushing for it to proceed, the idea lacks the support of the many countries in the region.

Regional Asian countries firmly oppose actions that are designed to bring military blocs into the region and stoke division and conflict. 

"The majority of Asia-Pacific countries don't welcome NATO's outreach in Asia and certainly will not allow any Cold War or hot war to happen again in Asia", the Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out earlier this month. 

The attitude of the majority of countries in the region is very clear. They oppose the emergence of military blocs in the region, don't welcome NATO's outreach in Asia, don't want a replica of bloc confrontation in Asia, and they certainly will not allow any Cold War or hot war to happen again in Asia, the ministry said.

If Asia were to form a NATO like U.S.-led alliance, it would leave the region exposed to insecurity and possible conflict as nations would be divided into alliances and military blocs. 

But another stumbling block for the American move to create an Asia NATO is France. President Emmanuel Macron has objected to what would be NATO's first office in Asia, branding the move as a big mistake. 

Macron recently made an official trip to China to boost ties. And Paris is making the same argument as Beijing. NATO stands for North Atlantic, and the U.S.-led military alliance has rules that clearly limit the scope of the bloc to the North Atlantic.

Expanding NATO outside the scope of the North Atlantic would need all of the alliance’s members on board, and France can technically veto such a move.

There are many, even NATO members, who realize why such a plan can create a major escalation, where the economic and security effects would be felt around the world, including Europe, a continent already in crisis. 

As the Chinese foreign ministry has repeatedly alluded to in the past, Asia is one of the most economically dynamic regions in the world.

This is essentially what the U.S. is afraid of. 

What the U.S. is not able to apprehend is that China, while developing into the world's number one economy and a leading expert in technology and other major sectors, has no intention to compete or challenge the U.S. on a global scale. 

This is where the paranoia of the U.S. policy makers and their fragile state of mind come into play. The U.S. is trying its best to cling on to whatever is left of its global hegemony. Such is the paranoia back in Washington. The U.S. ruling class is not even seeking the self-interests of its own country anymore as China is one of America's largest trading partners. 

The rise of China as a superpower and its peaceful outlook to the world has sent ripple effects back to Washington, which is warily looking on as more countries seek growing ties with Beijing. 

On the security front, the world has witnessed the U.S. military adventurism and its disastrous effects. This is while China has one military mission beyond its borders, and that is part of the UN Peace Keeping Mission in Africa. 

In essence, China is keeping the peace in a volatile part of the world, while the U.S. is triggering conflicts in crises it manufactured.

On the technology front, more nations are purchasing from China as it is rapidly advancing into a technological superpower. That has brought the U.S. profits down and left Washington scaremongering the world against China from issues such as Huawei, Tiktok and semiconductors. 

All part of wider U.S. attempts to limit Chinese exports. 

The plan is clear. It is intended to contain China. The execution is more complicated: U.S. influence on the world has faded. 

This is also where the danger arises, as U.S. hegemony diminishes, it is playing dangerous games around the world. It started the Ukraine crisis and is now looking to seek conflicts elsewhere, such as China and North Korea, instead of pursuing diplomatic paths and coming to the realization of a multipolar world. 

Nobody will benefit from a NATO-like military alliance in Asia apart from the U.S., as it is benefiting economically from the crisis in Ukraine.