Sweden wants NATO to open an office in Japan

It is the plan to bind the US to Europe

WASHINGTON. The US is about to turn to Asia.

In order to retain the superpower in Europe, the whole of NATO must also move east, the government believes.

Sweden is now pushing to open a NATO office in Japan.

– If we want the US to be involved in a war going on on the European continent, we must show an interest in the Indo-Pacific region, says Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.

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The US has been in the process of reorienting itself towards Asia for a long time.

But if Donald Trump is elected president in November, the so far slow process could switch over to supersonic speed.

In the circle around President Trump, there are influential people, for example the former Pentagon chief Elbridge Colby, who believe that the United States must at all costs focus on the threat from China.

– The US does not have enough military forces, says Colby to Politico.

– We cannot break our spear against the Russians, when we know that the Russians and the Chinese are cooperating, and that the Chinese are a more dangerous and decisive threat.

A rapid reorientation to Asia could leave Europe dangerously exposed.

Without the United States, the European arm of NATO remains severely short of many of the critical resources that would be needed to meet a Russian attack.

The risk of Donald Trump leaving Europe to its fate is imminent, but nothing is all peace and joy even if Biden is re-elected.

The view of China as the great threat is widely entrenched in the United States.

The outcome of the presidential election may affect the pace of US reorientation, but not the structural trend, argues Camille Grand at the European Council on Foreign Relations:

“Ignoring or opposing this change is pointless. Europe must be able to defend itself without the US,” he writes.

The Swedish government has concluded that the threat is met in two ways:

Partly by arming Europe – partly by tying the USA to our continent as strongly as possible.

– Regardless of the outcome of the American election, Europe must do more. We must expand our defensive capabilities, says Tobias Billström.

– When it comes to the United States and America’s interest in the war Russia is waging against Ukraine, we must maintain the interest by also showing an interest in what the United States perceives as urgent and important. It is above all China, and China’s very aggressive stance in the Indo-Pacific region.

Specifically, Sweden wants NATO to open a liaison office, a so-called “liaison office” in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.

From there, NATO can also maintain contact with Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, the East Asian countries whose leaders have also been invited to the summit in Washington.

– It’s not primarily about military support, the US can handle that perfectly well on its own, but political support, says Tobias Billström.

The idea of ​​a NATO office in Japan already had broad support before the NATO summit last year. It was then voted down by France, which is still opposed.

– It is an issue that we will not reach a conclusion on now at the meeting, because it is not on the agenda, but this is something that Sweden will continue to pursue, together with other allies, says Tobias Billström.