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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Japan NATO Office France
HEADLINE: France and Japan Conduct Military Drills Amid China Tensions - But Paris Wary of NATO Role
TEASER: France blocked proposal of NATO liaison office in Tokyo at July summit
PUBLISHED AT: 08/01/2023 8:40am
BYLINE: Henry Ridgwell
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Tokyo
VIDEOGRAPHER: Henry Ridgwell
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: pcd
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA, Zoom, AFP, APTN, Reuters
PLATFORMS: WEB _X_ TV _X_ RADIO _x_
TRT: 2:40
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[The French and Japanese air forces completed four days of aerial combat exercises in Japan Saturday, the first of their kind between the two allies. But even as Paris seeks to build its military alliances in the Indo-Pacific region, its government blocked proposals to open a NATO liaison office in Tokyo. Henry Ridgwell reports from Japan.]]
((NARRATOR))
For the plane-spotting public - and for Japan itself - this was something new. French fighter jets flying alongside Japanese warplanes. The joint aerial drills are part of a larger French exercise codenamed Pegase 2023 taking place across the Indo-Pacific, including in French island territories.
[[FOR RADIO: Speaking at a news conference July 28, Stephane Mille, the Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force, said it was natural that France, a resident nation of the Indo-Pacific, is particularly concerned by the geopolitical tensions felt in the region as a result of competition between the great powers.]]
((Stephane Mille, Chief of Staff of French Air and Space Force (in French) ))
“It’s natural that France, a resident nation of the Indo-Pacific, is particularly concerned by the geopolitical tensions felt in the region as a result of competition between the great powers.”
Those tensions are also felt by NATO – which cites China as a challenge to alliance interests. Security analyst Michito Tsuruoka.
[[FOR RADIO: Security analyst Michito Tsuruoka of Japan’s Keio University.]]
((Michito Tsuruoka, Keio University Security Analyst (in English) ))
((cf. Zoom))
“NATO’s interest is very much affected by what takes place in the Indo-Pacific region. So that means that NATO has to be more engaged for its own interest.”
At its latest summit in July, NATO debated opening a liaison office in Tokyo. But Emmanuel Macron, the president of NATO member France, blocked the move – despite its close alliance with Japan. Fabrice Pothier is a former NATO head of policy planning.
[[FOR RADIO: Fabrice Pothier is a former NATO head of policy planning, and now CEO of the policy consultancy group Rasmussen Global.]]
((Fabrice Pothier, Former NATO Official (in English) )) ((cf. Zoom))
“It’s pretty clear that President Macron wants to avert any sort of escalation, or dynamic that could lead to escalation, with China.”
((OPT OUT))
China warned that opening a NATO office in Tokyo would ‘destabilize’ the region. There is no such danger, says analyst Tsuruoka.
((Michito Tsuruoka, Keio University Security Analyst (in English) ))
((cf. Zoom))
“Because what we are talking about, what NATO is talking about, is just a one-person office. So, it will never change the balance of power in the region.”
For now, Paris is pushing bilateral relations with Indo-Pacific allies.
[[FOR RADIO: Again, NATO’s former head of policy planning, Fabrice Pothier.]]
((Fabrice Pothier, CEO of Rasmussen Global and former NATO official (in English) ))((cf. Zoom))
“France is always keen on underlining that NATO is a Euro-Atlantic organization with somehow clear geographic boundaries and responsibilities. And that going beyond that is basically going beyond its core mandate.”
((OPT IN))
((Henry Ridgwell, VOA News (stndup version))
Japan and France say their joint exercise aims to ‘promote the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.’
But does NATO have a role in that vision? It’s a question the alliance - and its allies in the region - have yet to decide.
((Henry Ridgwell for VOA News, at the Nyutabaru Air Base in southern Japan))
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