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China-EU relations
ChinaDiplomacy

As Nato chief visits South Korea and Japan, China will be high on agenda

  • Jens Stoltenberg is expected to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during trip
  • Analysts say it could lay the groundwork for Indo-Pacific security partnership, but Beijing’s response is likely to be measured

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Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will begin a four-day trip to South Korea and Japan on Sunday. Photo: dpa
Hayley Wong
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg’s trip to South Korea and Japan next week is expected to lay the groundwork for their Indo-Pacific security partnership to guard against a “systemic challenge” from China.

Stoltenberg will meet South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during the four-day trip that begins in Seoul on Sunday, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing a presidential official. He will also meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.

As well as Yoon, the Nato secretary general is expected to meet South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and other senior officials while in Seoul. The Yonhap report said US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin would also visit South Korea next week.

Stoltenberg’s trip comes after the unprecedented attendance of the South Korean and Japanese leaders at a Nato summit in Madrid in June, when the military alliance labelled China as a “systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security” in a key strategy document.

Yoon and Kishida also met US President Joe Biden for a trilateral summit on the sidelines of the Madrid talks, the first time leaders of the three nations had met since 2017.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left), US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a trilateral summit in Madrid in June. Photo: Kyodo
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left), US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a trilateral summit in Madrid in June. Photo: Kyodo

Both South Korea and Japan have sought to step up ties with Nato amid nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and growing tensions with China.

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