U.S. to propose NATO partnership with Japan, S. Korea, Australia

Kyodo News ^ | 11/21/06

[TigerLikesRooster]

U.S. to propose NATO partnership with Japan, S. Korea, Australia

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 KYODO

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Tuesday that President George W. Bush will propose at the upcoming NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, a program to bring Japan, South Korea and Australia closer to the military alliance.

The three countries ''do not seek NATO membership, but we seek a partnership with them so that we can train more intensively from a military point of view and grow closer to them because we are deployed with them,'' he said at a news conference.

In addition to the three countries, Sweden and Finland -- two European countries which have stayed out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- will be invited to participate in the program, he added.

The new proposal, which will bring the 26-member military alliance and the three democracies in the Asia-Pacific region closer in an effort to tackle threats on a global scale, may unnerve Russia and China, both of which have kept a distance from NATO.

Burns said the proposal will be ''a priority issue'' for the United States at the summit, which will begin in the Latvian capital next Tuesday. ''We believe NATO will agree to this program of global partnerships,'' he added.

Japan, South Korea and Australia have all deployed troops in Iraq as members of the ''coalition of the willing,'' the U.S. official stressed. ''So we want to grow closer to them.''

Japan has been seeking closer ties with NATO, with Foreign Minister Taro Aso having expressed Tokyo's willingness to strengthen coordination in his speech at a meeting of senior NATO officials in Brussels in May.

NATO so far has partnerships with two major groups of non-NATO members: the Partnership for Peace, which includes most of the countries in Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean Dialogue Countries, which consist of several Arab countries and Israel.

==Kyodo

[TigerLikesRooster]

Containment of China.

[SevenofNine]

OH OH

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[hedgetrimmer]

Will it help them get a better deal when they hire the Japanese to act as our merchant marine? That is what Admiral Roughead said we would do.

[SCHROLL]

bout damn time

[Prokopton]

Why would we include S. Korea. Japan and Australia are allies with many shared values and who have the ability to come to our assistance. S. Korea is an iffy ally at best and would be just as likely to drag us down as to support us.
Get India instead of S. Korea in this group and we might have something.

[DB]

The Atlantic ocean just keeps on getting bigger... Must be global warming...

[MinorityRepublican]

Let's expel France, Germany and Spain from NATO. And Turkey.

[BoBToMatoE]

what ever happened to SEATO?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #9

The real name should be ERATO.:-)

[Carry_Okie]

Why are they citing NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) when they've already got SEATO (SouthEast Asian Treaty Organization)?

[KellyAdmirer]

They should re-name NATO and just allow in Australia et al. I propose "The Justice League."

[Thunder90]

Containment of Russia as well. But, without the western Euroweenie help, we need Taiwan, S. Korea, and Japan to offset the loss of France, Spain, and Germany.

[Rummenigge]

You want to expell the cash cow ?

[MinorityRepublican]

What's good is NATO if we have some Allies ending up stabbing us in the back?

[stefan10]

that´s right.

the NATO was founded to counter the communist threat in eastern europe.

The world is completely different today and NATO is dead. They tried for 16 years now (with adding new members or finding some work in afghanistan or the balkan) to rescue the old and useless alliance.

The asians should found a organization as we europeans did with the EU. The EU needs to establish a common military force outside of the NATO and under the control of Brussels.

That would also help the US because a common european force would be a better and more effective partner than the small armies we see today.

But the beginning has to be the end of NATO but that will not happen i believe to expel France Spain and Germany would be a good start for europe and the US.

[FreedomCalls]

Why are they citing NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) when they've already got SEATO (SouthEast Asian Treaty Organization)?

You are a little out of date. SEATO was dissolved way back in 1977.

[MinorityRepublican]

The EU will never have the funds to develop an "European Army". They are too addicted to their Socialist programs to increase their defense spending.

Plus, the European population is declining and it will crash by the year 2050.

So in this case, NATO will still last. They are going to depend on the Americans to fight the Muslims in France since the native Frenchman won't do it himself.

[AlaskaErik]

what ever happened to SEATO?

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[AlaskaErik]

The EU needs to establish a common military force outside of the NATO and under the control of Brussels.

The problem is that the Europeans have no stomach for fighting and no interest in spending money on defense. Any force would be hollow and woefully underfunded.