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NATO involvement in Asia-Pacific opposed by 70% globally

2023/5/30 9:34:00   source:CGTN

An overwhelming majority of global respondents voiced their opposition to the potential opening of a NATO liaison office in Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said last week that his government was considering it, according to a CGTN poll.

Kishida's statement, if made true, would be unprecedented, deepening geopolitical faultlines in the Asia-Pacific region that many say would stir up tensions. "Strongly" opposed by 71.1 percent of respondents on CGTN's multi-language platforms, the matter has sparked widespread concern and great vigilance in the global community.

The potential move was objected by at least 84 percent of respondents on each of CGTN's Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms, with Russian respondents rejecting it by the greatest proportion - 92 percent, while the number of those opposed to the office's opening slid to 54 percent on the network's English platforms.

In a bid to entrench itself in the Asia-Pacific region, the Western military alliance has doubled down on its efforts to seek closer ties with countries in the region, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg proposing the creation of an "Asia-Pacific version of NATO" in a recent trip to Japan.

"NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the Pacific Ocean, much less Asia," one respondent said on Twitter.

Nine out of 10 online respondents believe that NATO's attempts to extend its influence in the Asia-Pacific region are cause for great alarm; Nearly 85 percent believe that this will seriously jeopardize regional peace and stability. A further 92 percent were concerned that such a move may escalate an arms race and further exacerbate tensions in the region.

Despite repeated statements by NATO that its position as a defensive organization has not changed, observers have pointed out that the alliance has long abandoned its original purpose and turned into a tool for the United States to control its European allies, suppress its competitors and maintain hegemony.

"NATO has been trying to dominate everyone through military expansion," a netizen said responding to the survey.

Ninety-three percent of global respondents agree that NATO's actions have long violated its stated defense position; 92.7 percent of respondents believe that NATO has become a tool for the U.S. to maintain hegemony and pursue political interests.

In recent years, NATO has accelerated the breakthrough of traditional defense zones, constantly seeking to strengthen military ties with extraterritorial countries. Analysts say the alliance deliberately stirs up contradictions and disagreements, promotes bloc confrontation, creates regional tensions, and poses a growing challenge and threat to world peace and stability.

"NATO stirs up trouble everywhere and keeps interfering in the affairs of other regions, which will only end up with its own consequences," a netizen said.

And as a country with a history of aggression, Japan's moves on the military are also causing concerns. In the survey, 78.9 percent of global respondents were deeply concerned about Japan's military expansion in recent years.

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