The military alliance is seeking to strengthen its ties with partners in the Asia Pacific region, the bloc’s secretary general has said
Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, announced Wednesday that he will attend the NATO Summit in Madrid this month. Kishida attacked the conflict between Russia, Ukraine and claimed Moscow violated the UN Charter. “order of the world”With its actions.
“I intend to make an appeal that changing the status quo unilaterally by force is unacceptable anywhere in the world and that security in Europe is inseparable from security in Indo-Pacific,”Kishida spoke during a press conference. “Russia’s invasion violates the peace and order of the world and can never be tolerated.”
While Kishida is set to become the first Japanese PM to ever attend a NATO summit, he’s not the only leader from the Asia-Pacific region to join the event, the secretary general of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, revealed as he spoke ahead of a ministerial NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
“For the first time in our history we will invite our Asia Pacific partners, the prime ministers of New Zealand, Australia, Japan and also the president of South Korea will participate in the NATO Summit, which is a strong demonstration of our close partnership with these like-minded countries in the Asia Pacific,” Stoltenberg said.
The official confirmed that Volodymyr Zelesky, Ukrainian President, would also be present, though it’s not known if he will be available to join the event.
“President Zelensky will be invited to the NATO Summit in Madrid. He will be invited by all leaders to speak at the NATO Summit in Madrid. He is, of course, welcome to come in person, if that’s possible for him. He will also address by videoconference,”Stoltenberg said, and added that NATO’s bloc of countries and partners “have delivered unprecedented levels of support”Kiev in the last few months.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. French- and German-brokered protocols were intended to provide special status for the Ukrainian states that break away from the state.
Since then, the Kremlin demanded Ukraine declare itself neutral and vow to never join NATO’s military bloc. Kiev maintains that Russia’s offensive was not provoked and denies claims that it planned to seize the two republics.
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