NATO should recruit new members from Asia that share 'the alliance's vision of freedom,' former NATO commander says

• NATO should bring in new members from the Asia-Pacific, says retired US Navy Adm. James Stavridis.
• Stavridis suggested recruiting countries like Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.
• A broader NATO is necessary, considering ongoing geopolitical crises like the Russia-Ukraine war, Stavridis said.

The NATO military alliance should consider broadening its membership to include Asia-Pacific nations like Japan and New Zealand, said a former NATO supreme allied commander.

"NATO should think about recruiting a few new members from outside its traditional boundaries," retired US Navy Adm. James Stavridis wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed on Monday.

Stavridis served as the military alliance's chief from 2009 to 2013. Before that, he was the Commander of the US Southern Command from 2006 to 2009, where he oversaw military operations in Latin America.

Widening NATO's membership, Stavridis wrote, was a necessary response to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine war, US-China tensions, and the territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

In his op-ed, Stavridis suggested recruiting Asia-Pacific countries "that share the alliance's vision of freedom, democracy, liberty and human rights." That list of potential allies includes nations like Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

In addition, Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore could also be brought in due to their ties with the US, Stavridis wrote.

That said, Stavridis did acknowledge the difficulties of "expanding NATO geographically to include a group of Asian democracies."

Besides managing the "cultural, linguistic, and geographic differences," Stavridis noted that a larger membership would make it "even harder to gain broad consensus on any given mission."

"I'd say the challenges and the benefits feel roughly balanced, but given the practical and political hurdles, it is probably too soon to consider a global NATO," Stavridis wrote.

"But perhaps there is a middle path, which might entail more formalized relationships between the alliance and the Asian democracies," he added, suggesting arrangements like "clearly articulated security guarantees" and "joint procurement of advanced weapon systems."

To be sure, NATO has already been expanding its outreach efforts to Asia. Since 2022, Japan and South Korea have attended the military alliance's annual summits.

Last year, NATO reportedly considered setting up a liaison office in Japan. Plans, however, fell through following opposition from French President Emmanuel Macron.

The military alliance's overtures to Asia appear to have drawn the ire of countries like China, whose defense ministry has accused NATO of being a "walking war machine."

"In recent years, NATO has been inching closer to the Asia Pacific and using the nonexistent 'China threat' as an excuse to advance bloc confrontation, which poses a threat to regional security," China's defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said of NATO during a press conference in January.

Representatives for NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.