Don’t expect an Indo-Pacific NATO anytime soon

Tensions between the US and China are heating up as a top Chinese general has again accused the US of trying to form an “Asia-Pacific NATO.”

At the Shangri-La Dialogue talk shop held last weekend in Singapore, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the US strategy, emphasizing cooperation with Indo-Pacific allies like Japan and Australia to boost regional security.

This friction underscores the growing divide, with China criticizing the US for promoting division while the US argues it’s responding to China’s aggressive actions, including harassment of the Philippines in the South China Sea and ramped-up military maneuvers around Taiwan.

This development is part of a broader US strategy to bolster regional security through “minilateral” partnerships, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, AUKUS and several budding trilateral agreements. Australia, Japan, the Philippines and US defense chiefs met in May, giving rise to talk of a new “Squad” partnership.

While these initiatives have sparked discussions about the possibility of forming an Indo-Pacific NATO, the complexities and historical challenges suggest that pursuing an Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization won’t likely happen anytime soon.

Failed collective efforts

During the early Cold War, several efforts to create a collective security agreement in the Pacific similar to NATO failed. Since the end of World War II, there have been three serious attempts to form an Indo-Pacific NATO, namely the Pacific Pact, Pacific Ocean Pact and Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO).

The first attempt was made by South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines in 1949. Abandonment fears were rife in Seoul, Taipei and Manila as aid to Taiwan slowed and US troops left the Korean