Kyodo News: NATO Delegation to Visit Japan to Strengthen Cooperation with Indo-Pacific Partners
A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) delegation will visit Japan to strengthen cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners. During the visit, they will hold talks with defense and foreign ministers and visit defense-related companies. This move comes as NATO's focus on the Indo-Pacific Four (Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand) is increasing amidst Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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- 📰 Published: April 9, 2026 at 22:04
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Kyodo News reports that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has 32 member states, including the United States, Canada, and European countries. Sources say that Hungary, which will hold parliamentary elections on the 12th, is the only country not participating in this delegation. Coordination is underway for meetings with officials such as Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro and Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu, as well as visits to defense-related companies. For European NATO member states, the most important issue is supporting Ukraine, which is under continuous attack by Russia. Against the backdrop of a passive attitude from the US Trump administration towards aid for Ukraine, the presence of the Indo-Pacific Four (IP4) countries—Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand—as Indo-Pacific partners is increasingly significant in NATO's eyes. (Editor: Kō Hiroshi) 1150409