Expanding defense-industrial cooperation will top the agenda when NATO foreign ministers meet their counterparts from Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday as the military alliance seeks to step up ties with its Indo-Pacific partners amid what it views as a growing interconnectedness of international security challenges.
“We cannot look at the NATO territory in isolation,” Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters Wednesday ahead of a two-day summit of the top diplomats of the 32-member alliance that will also include a meeting with the foreign ministers of the “Indo-Pacific 4” (IP4) countries.
“We are very much aware that the threats are not only limited to the Russians. We see the Chinese building up. We see what is happening in Iran. We see what is happening in North Korea. And that's why Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand will join us (in the meetings),” the NATO chief said, arguing that the threats posed by these countries not only harm Ukraine but also pose risks “across the alliance and around the world.”
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