Contemplating an Asian NATO: Obstacles and Challenges to Its Formation

Budimir Željko (University of Banja Luka – Faculty of Political Science, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska), zeljko.budimir@fpn.unibl.org

The paper analyses the possibility of formation of an Asian counterpart to the NATO alliance, focusing on the obstacles to and challenges involved. In the first part of the paper, the author reflects on the cooperation of certain Indo-Pacific countries (especially Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand) with NATO, including the scope and progress of their engagement to date. Next, the paper provides a brief review of early 21st-century proposals for a ‘global’ NATO, which ultimately remained unrealized. The central section examines the concept of an Asian NATO, analyzing potential member countries and exploring the obstacles to the realization of such an alliance. The author identifies three major to the creation of an Asian NATO: culturalpolitical, geo-economic, and geographic/geostrategic. Each of these obstacles is analysed and interpreted individually, under the assumption that the USA would be willing to initiate the alliance’s formation. These challenges primarily concern the potential Asian member countries themselves. The final section provides a summary of the key arguments and presents the concluding remarks.

Keywords: Asia, Indo-Pacific, Alliances, USA, China, Strategy