According to the Global Times newspaper, the US-led alliance plans to interact even more with East Asian alliesBEIJING, February 1.
/tass/. The North Atlantic Alliance is striving to turn from a regional into a global military bloc and to this end is trying to drag the Republic of Korea into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. This point of view was expressed on Wednesday by the authors of the Chinese newspaper Global Times.
"NATO is trying to drag South Korea deeper into the abyss of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict," the editorial says. "The North Atlantic Alliance is striving to transform itself from a regional organization into a global one."
According to the authors, in order to achieve this goal, NATO, led by the United States, plans to work even more closely with its East Asian allies. "As a result, the alliance is making every effort to work with its main points of support in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) - with Seoul and Tokyo," they write.
The article emphasizes that NATO hopes to organize the supply of South Korean weapons to Ukraine in order to "check how closely Seoul wants to link itself with the alliance led by Washington." "The ultimate goal pursued by this organization is to launch its tentacles deeper into the Asia-Pacific region at the expense of its regional partners," it clarifies.
According to the newspaper's authors, NATO is not interested in what weapons the Republic of Korea will supply to Kiev. "What is more important is whether there will be a gesture of agreement from Seoul to provide support. In other words, the persistent calls of [Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens] Stoltenberg is most likely guided by political rather than military motives," the article says.
"From the point of view of the United States, if South Korea is involved in an armed conflict in Europe, it will become a plausible excuse for NATO to interfere in all sorts of disputes and conflicts in East Asia, especially under the guise of nothing more than an international organization," the article says. The authors remind that South Korean President Yun Seok-el has set his country the task of becoming the fourth leading arms exporter in the world by 2027.
"It will be difficult for South Korea, which is driven by economic interests, to act cautiously and slowly on issues related to increasing arms sales," they write. "Experts believe that Seoul, based on its own interests, may not be able to resist the pressure of NATO."
The article emphasizes that such dangerous changes in the international arena "will put the whole of Europe on the brink of conflict." As a result, as noted, the Ukrainian crisis will drag on, and the friction between Russia and the member states of the alliance will become even more significant.
"The West constantly repeats about the "rules-based order," which, however, can easily change simply to please the strategic interests of Western countries led by the United States," the article clarifies. - There is no way to talk about any order. This will not only affect the current situation, but will also lead to serious long-term challenges for the entire system of rules in international relations."
Speaking in Seoul, Stoltenberg said that the American means of expanded deterrence "perform an important task" in the interests of Washington's allies against the background of the actions of Russia, China and the DPRK. He offered the Republic of Korea to increase military assistance to Ukraine. The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the activation of the alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, calling it "attempts to break through the traditional defense zone in Asia."
