Photo/Illutration Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya speaks at a news conference on Oct. 2. (Nen Satomi)

Japan’s new foreign minister threw cold water on the urgency to create an Asian version of NATO, describing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s controversial proposal as something for future consideration. 

“I think (an Asian NATO) is valid as an idea for the future, but we should take time and consider it over the medium to long term,” Takeshi Iwaya said at his first news conference on Oct. 2.

Iwaya’s remarks indicate that the Ishiba administration is taking a more realistic stance to the prime minister’s key security agenda.

A former defense minister, Ishiba has advocated the creation of a collective security framework encompassing major Asian countries.

However, Iwaya said, “It is difficult to immediately establish an organization in Asia in which (member countries) would assume obligations to defend each other.”

Without mentioning China, he said the envisioned security framework is not designed to counter “any specific country.”

“The most ideal form of security cooperation in the future is the one that would not exclude any country in the Indo-Pacific region or Asia as a whole,” Iwaya said.

At a separate news conference on the same day, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said he had not received any instructions from Ishiba about an Asian equivalent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“We will take the lead in collaborating with other countries in Asia in line with the prime minister’s intentions,” Nakatani said, touching on the importance of cooperation with the United States and like-minded countries.

Iwaya and Nakatani, both former defense ministers close to Ishiba, are expected to play important roles in the new administration’s national security policies.

Ishiba has long called for revising the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, despite expected opposition from Washington.

While acknowledging that there are issues that need to be addressed, Iwaya only said, “We will consider how best the government should deal with this issue in line with the prime minister’s intentions.”

Nakatani also did not appear enthusiastic about any revisions to the SOFA.

“We will study how the government should deal with this issue,” he said. “We have to consider it carefully in collaboration with other ministries and agencies concerned.”

Ishiba has also proposed to secure a training base for the Self-Defense Forces in the United States, saying it would reinforce the bilateral alliance.

However, Nakatani said, “At this point, we are not at the stage for establishing such a base.”

(This article was written by Nen Satomi and Nobuhiko Tajima.)

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