As China decries US plans for an Asian Nato, is it all a ‘political gimmick’?

Beijing’s narrative gels with North Korean and Russian thinking. But analysts doubt such an alliance could ever be – if history is any guide

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Banners outside Nato headquarters in Belgium. Observers say an Asian version seems unlikely any time soon. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00pm, 16 Jun 2024

At the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore earlier this month, Chinese Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng accused the United States of creating an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), with the goal of hemming in Beijing.

However, the emergence of a large, collective US-led anti-China military alliance in the region – under unified command and fielding a common army – is far-fetched, analysts say. China’s actions are instead pushing regional countries to seek partnerships in smaller, more focused groups that have come to be called “minilaterals”, they noted.

Asked if an Asian Nato was in the works, Rommel Jude Ong, a retired rear admiral of the Philippine Navy and current professor at the Ateneo School of Government in Manila, said, “I don’t think so. Most likely, you will see informal partnerships built around minilateral arrangements.”

Analyst Collin Koh thinks the idea of a Nato-like Asian security alliance is a propaganda ploy.

“It’s nothing more than a Chinese political gimmick to try to shape the public narrative about the network of US alliances and partnerships and its role in maintaining regional peace and stability,” said Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore.