NATO is seeking to bolster its partnerships in the Pacific to push back against China's global impact, specifically, the help it's providing Russia in the war with Ukraine.
In a joint declaration, leaders of NATO said China is a "decisive enabler" and is giving Russia "large-scale support" in its invasion of Ukraine. In response to the declaration, China's foreign minister warned NATO against creating "chaos" in the Asia-Pacific.
The war in Ukraine has split Asian countries. While China has supported Russia, Japan and South Korea are sending weapons and aid to Ukraine.
These global alliances have forced NATO to shift from how it was founded 75 years ago, squarely focused on the Atlantic.
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In addition to cooperation on Ukraine, a partnership with the likes of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia would focus on things like artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Ann Marie Dailey, a researcher at the RAND Corporation, said you only need to look at history to understand why NATO is focusing on this part of the world.
"So in World War II, we all know that that war didn't just happen in the Atlantic, it also occurred in the Pacific," she said. "And the United States and Canada are also Pacific nations. And so just because it's called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, that doesn't mean that it only looks at things that are happening in the Atlantic."
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While it's not a country, Hawaii has also been a topic of conversation at the NATO Summit. The island does not currently have NATO protection because when the treaty was signed in 1949, it was not a state and territories were not included.
A group of bipartisan U.S. senators sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to address this issue to make sure that Hawaii is protected.
