NATO de facto fueling Indo-Pacific’s re-militarization

The Indo-Pacific is being rapidly re-militarized as bilateral defense agreements spring up across much of the region.

That contrasts markedly with most of the post-Cold War period, when the region’s priority shifted toward economic prosperity and a degree of de-militarization, including in the case of the Philippines, seen in the closure of major Cold War-era American military bases.

In recent weeks and months, on the other hand, a complex web of inter-regional and intra-regional linkages has been forged or re-enforced across this vast land and maritime area.

This is happening in the context of intensifying great power rivalry between the US, its NATO allies and Western-oriented regional partners jostling for control and influence against the rising powers of China, Russia and other regional states seen variously by the West as strategic or dangerous competitors.

The latest iteration of re-militarization arises in the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into the region. Although NATO does not, as yet, have a physical presence anywhere in the Indo-Pacific, the transatlantic organization is forging ties in new spheres with its principal partners there, including Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.

Several new initiatives were agreed at its annual summit in Washington DC involving the development of cybersecurity, tackling hybrid threats, promoting interoperability and beefing up general defense cooperation.

It’s not just the Indo-Pacific’s most advanced economies that are forming military partnerships: The Philippines is foremost among the region’s developing economies to launch a series of new defense deals.

The most recent and notable has been its security pact with Japan, which was