South Korea sets sights on boosting Nato ties with new strategy to tackle growing China clout

The government disclosed Seoul, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are simultaneously working out details of the initiative called Individually Tailored Partnership Programme

Nato, which is scouting for more allies to counter Beijing and Moscow in the Indo-Pacific, also planning a Tokyo outpost that has drawn flak from France

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Leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg (centre) during the bloc’s 2022 summit in Spain. Photo: Nato/dpa

Published: 9:30am, 16 Jun 2023

South Korea on Thursday officially revealed that it and three other allies in the Indo-Pacific are simultaneously pursuing strategies on enhancing cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) in a region increasingly dominated by China.

The foreign ministry said Seoul, Japan, Australia and New Zealand have kick started the process to iron out the details of the initiative called Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP).

“We are working on the wording of ITPP with Nato to conclude it,” the ministry said in a press advisory obtained by This Week in Asia.

It, however, declined to get into specifics about what is being discussed in the ongoing negotiations.

Nato is seeking to expand ties with the four nations, collectively known as the Asia-Pacific partners (AP4), and are presently described as “partners across the globe” by the multilateral military alliance to counter an assertive China and an aggressive Russia whose invasion of Ukraine has rattled the 31-member bloc.