By Takuya Karube,
NATO leaders on Tuesday agreed to work toward including Ukraine as a member and to step up security cooperation with its partners in the Indo-Pacific region, citing China's action and deepening strategic relationship with Russia as emerging challenges to be tackled.
The leaders, who gathered in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for a two-day meeting, discussed additional support for Ukraine as it presses a counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces and seeks to gain credible security guarantees from the world's most powerful military alliance.
Ukraine's plea to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization topped the agenda, at a time when the bloc is expanding its reach to Nordic countries and advancing its cooperation with countries outside the Euro-Atlantic area, such as Japan and South Korea.
But the leaders did not set any timeline for Ukraine to be part of NATO, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saying it will extend an invitation to Ukraine when "members agree and conditions are met."
The chief of the 31-member transatlantic alliance, speaking at a press conference, also said what is most important for Ukraine now is to prevail in the war that has dragged on for more than 500 days.
"We fully support Ukraine's right to choose its own security arrangements. Ukraine's future is in NATO," the leaders said in a communique released after the first day of their discussions.
But the outcome is believed to be far from satisfactory for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy earlier in the day voiced irritation at those holding up Ukraine's invitation to join NATO with talk of "conditions," saying his country "deserves respect."
"It's unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine's membership," he wrote on Twitter on his way to Vilnius.
On Wednesday, he is slated to attend the inaugural meeting of a council established between NATO and Ukraine, where issues related to its membership will also be handled.
NATO members hold differing views as to how quickly the country should move toward membership.
Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, and other newer NATO members from the eastern part of Europe have been vocal about the need to include Ukraine in the bloc.
But some major powers such as the United States and Germany are cautious about discussing the issue in concrete terms at this point, worrying that rushing into negotiations could place NATO at risk of being drawn into Europe's biggest armed conflict since World War II.
Nonetheless, the mood of the summit brightened after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed Monday to end his country's refusal to approve Sweden's bid to become the 32nd member of the alliance, following Finland.
Erdogan's about-face in the final hours marked a big win for NATO, with its membership enlargement almost certain to weaken Russia's strategic position.
The NATO accession process for Sweden had been at a standstill since last year primarily due to Turkey's refusal to ratify the membership, demanding that Stockholm do more against Kurdish groups seen by Ankara as potential threats to its national security.
Going beyond issues associated with Ukraine, another major topic of the summit is NATO's ongoing process to broaden cooperation with its four Asia-Pacific partners -- Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
As with last year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his counterparts from the three countries have been invited to take part in NATO discussions.
"The Indo-Pacific is important for NATO, given that developments in that region can directly affect Euro-Atlantic security," the communique said, adding that "China's stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values."
Kishida became the first Japanese leader to participate in a NATO summit in June 2022 in Spain, at which the alliance endorsed a new Strategic Concept -- a document laying out its priorities for the next decade.
Touching on China for the first time, the document identified Beijing as posing "systematic challenges" and ramping up attempts with Moscow to undermine the rules-based international order.
In parallel, NATO and the leaders of the Asia-Pacific grouping known as the AP4 have agreed to reinforce cooperation in areas such as cybersecurity and outer space through the signing of so-called Individually Tailored Partnership Programs.
After a bilateral meeting between Kishida and Stoltenberg on Wednesday morning, NATO will have a leaders' session with the AP4, which Sweden and the European Union will also join.
NATO has proposed the establishment of a liaison office in Tokyo to facilitate its coordination with the Asia-Pacific partners.
France has voiced opposition to the idea, however, and officials involved in the summit's planning said the alliance is internally divided over the necessity of opening such a facility outside the Euro-Atlantic region.
They said the chances of the proposal becoming a reality are slim, and the topic will not be on the agenda.
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