U.S. "global NATO" plan to get summit thumbs-down
Source: Reuters
By Mark John BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. plan to forge a network of partnerships around NATO from Scandinavia to Asia will get the thumbs-down at a summit next week from members wary of the alliance going global, diplomats said on Friday. NATO leaders meeting in Riga from Tuesday will acknowledge the need to boost contacts with countries such as Sweden, South Korea, and Australia -- some of whom have troops under NATO command in Afghanistan -- but will make no offer of formal ties. The year-old proposal has won a lukewarm response from Asian countries unwilling to have a contractual relationship with NATO. It also hit firm resistance from some European allies and aggravated Russian concerns that NATO was trying to encircle it. Underlining persistent transatlantic differences about how to tackle emerging security threats, a core of west European nations led by France and Germany have sought to fend off U.S.-led moves to broaden NATO's geographic and strategic scope. "We don't see the point in creating a mini-United Nations around the alliance, and others share that view," said a senior diplomat from one European NATO member. Washington argued the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks -- planned by al Qaeda from bases in Afghanistan -- showed that threats could emerge from anywhere in the world, and called on NATO to develop a "security providers" forum of countries keen to combat terror. Many inside the alliance agree its existing web of post-Cold War partnerships -- including tie-ups with Russia, former Soviet satellites and fledgling links with Middle East and Gulf states -- is in need of a revamp. The U.S. initiative assumed countries which have offered troops to NATO operations -- such as Australia, New Zealand and Sweden in Afghanistan -- would jump at the chance to have more of a say in the running of alliance missions. But even staunch U.S. ally Australia has made it clear it does not want to be tied in with a partnership accord. "I don't think ... we want to be travelling over to Brussels week by week for formal meetings and arrangements. It's just a logistical nightmare for us," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters during a one-off NATO visit in September. NO POSSE New Zealand, which has a small contingent in restive eastern Afghanistan, has also ruled out formal ties with the 26-member alliance, insisting a U.N. mandate rather than other allegiances was the key to whether it did peacekeeping duties. "This is not a posse. This is New Zealand fulfilling its role as a good international citizen in line with the principles of the UN charter," Defence Minister Phil Goff noted this year in comments that government sources said still reflected policy. U.S. officials do not see such responses as a rebuff, arguing that practical collaboration on the ground, as in Afghanistan, matters more than formal links. Both Wellington and Canberra seek better cooperation with NATO such as joint military training and information exchange along the lines of an accord New Zealand signed in February to share classified information. The same applies to Japan, which already has a security alliance with Washington under which U.S. forces have an obligation to defend Japan, but Japanese troops cannot help U.S. counterparts unless there is an attack on Japan. South Korea is also wary, with Seoul concerned any closer relationship with NATO could exacerbate tensions with its nuclear-armed communist neighbour to the north. "The feeling in the government is that the proposal will have to be approached very cautiously, keeping in mind how South Korea's position on it will affect relations with North Korea," a foreign ministry official in Seoul said. (Additional reporting by Carsten Lietz in Brussels, Gyles Beckford in Wellington, George Nishiyama in Tokyo, Jack Kim in Seoul and James Grubel in Canberra)
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