(Bloomberg) -- Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair cast doubt on the idea of an “Asian NATO,” saying that any US-led military alliance in the region would look different due to the diverse strategic interests there.
“I think there’s different elements of strategic competition taking place in the Indo-Pacific,” Blair said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Seoul late Wednesday. “It may take a different form than what we see in NATO.”
Blair is visiting Seoul and Tokyo this week, becoming the first Canadian defense minister in more than a decade to travel to South Korea. He highlighted China’s growing assertiveness in the region in what he called “the most rapid military buildup” of any nation in decades to “reshape the international system to suit its own goals.”
Touching also on the US presidential election and Ukraine, Blair said he expected America’s support for Kyiv to continue no matter who will be in the White House next year.
The US and its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, have been stepping up their cooperation as Washington pushes to clip China’s efforts to increase its military and economic might. Beijing has bristled at the moves, calling them an attempt to sow discord among the Asian neighbors.
“I think what we’re seeing is the emergence of a lattice of security arrangements and cooperation, information sharing. I think there is value in that,” Blair said.
The idea of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization-like collective security arrangement in Asia was raised this week by Shigeru Ishiba, a front-runner in the race to become Japan’s next prime minister. Ishiba, a former defense minister, said such a pact would provide better deterrence against regional threats and highlighted the role of NATO in deterring Russian aggression in Europe.
China and North Korea occasionally accuse the US of trying to build an Asian version of NATO, but security analysts say such a deal is unlikely because the region is more diverse politically and economically than Europe and North America.
While views on the threat from Russia are largely uniform among NATO members, ties to China vary widely around Asia and sometimes shift when administrations change in individual countries.
Asian countries also have a deep undercurrent of distrust from legacies of past wars.
Turning to the US election, the Canadian minister played down the significance of comments made by candidates in the runup to the vote.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump twice declined to say if he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, instead telling the night’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that he wanted the fighting to end.
“A lot of things get said in a political campaign, but they don’t necessarily turn into future government policy,” Blair said. “The United States commitment to peace and security around the world, it’s been enduring for a very long time.”
His remarks echoed those of Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO’s military committee, who said it was unlikely the US would stop supporting Ukraine.
The race for the White House remains tight ahead of the Nov. 5 election and the two candidates differ significantly on a solution to the conflict in Ukraine, currently well into its third year.
While President Joe Biden and Harris have pledged to back Kyiv for as long as needed, Trump has repeatedly raised doubts over US commitments to NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has given little indication that he’s ready to negotiate, except on his own terms.
Canada is among a minority of NATO members that do not meet the alliance’s requirement of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised in July that Canada would hit the target by 2032, but provided few details of how it would get there.
Blair said Canada would need to acquire “big things” to achieve that goal. The country is in the market for up to 12 submarines, which will cost billions.
“We’ve got some significant new investments to make in people and in platforms and equipment for our Canadian Armed Forces,” he said. “We know we’ve got to do more and we’re going to do more.”
--With assistance from Alastair Gale.
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