Ukraine-Russia war update: Kremlin reacts to Starmer’s ‘irresponsible’ proposal | World news

By Nicole Johnston, Asia correspondent in Beijing

NATO appears to be focusing on the war between Russia and Ukraine this week, but it also has another potential theater of conflict in its sights: the Indo-Pacific.

NATO leaders recognise that stability in the Indo-Pacific is crucial for security in Europe and beyond: a war here would have global implications.

For this reason, representatives from Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand (the so-called IP4) are also taking part in the NATO summit.

The alliance’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, wrote in Foreign Affairs this week that NATO has entered an era of “sustained competition with China.”

The Indo-Pacific is divided by alliances and partnerships.

To counteract China’s military expansion, there is the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal between Australia, Great Britain and the USA.

The “Quad” is a security forum between India, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

This year, the United States conducted military training exercises with Japan and South Korea.

China’s Communist Party feels constrained by these blocs. These alliances are forming in a region that China sees as its own backyard. US influence is not welcome here.

Western warships sail through the East China Sea and the South China Sea, off the coast of Taiwan and across the Pacific Ocean. China claims most of the South China Sea for itself.

The Chinese military operates at sea and in the air close to the US and Australian armed forces. There have already been near-misses. The risk of misjudgment is high.

China is alarmed by the strengthening relations between the IP4 and NATO.

On Monday, Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, accused NATO of “violating its borders, expanding its mandate, reaching beyond its defense zone and fomenting confrontation.”

China’s argument is reminiscent of the rhetoric used by Russia to justify its war against Ukraine.

Russia blamed NATO’s eastward expansion for this. China compares the US alliances in this region to a kind of “NATO” in Asia.

China is also involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Officially it is neutral and calls for peace. But continued trade with Russia enables President Vladimir Putin to continue the war.

Just two weeks after Polish President Andrzej Duda’s visit to Beijing, the Chinese military has begun eleven-day joint exercises with Belarus near the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The big question is what happens in Taiwan. Japan has said: “The Ukraine of today could be the East Asia of tomorrow.”

China firmly believes that Taiwan will eventually unify with the mainland.

It is unclear how the countless US-led alliances in the Indo-Pacific would react.