US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said all parties involved in dialogues with Nato “understand exactly what the nature of our conversations are about and the limitations of what is being discussed”.
The senior diplomat’s remarks came at the launch event of a report published by the United States Institute of Peace on partnerships between the military bloc and Indo-Pacific countries.
Campbell said Beijing and Moscow were using disinformation campaigns to fan misperceptions of the bloc’s expansion.
Blinken visiting China for ‘bilateral, regional and global issues’: official
Blinken visiting China for ‘bilateral, regional and global issues’: official
“We are not proposing that Nato explore out-of-area contingencies in the Indo-Pacific,” he added. “That is far from what we believe the current dialogues are about.”
“There is no real proposition of some combining force that would integrate countries in the Indo-Pacific into some formal self-defence, Article-5 structures,” Campbell said, referring to the clause in the transatlantic security alliance’s treaty stipulating a collective military response if one member is attacked by a hostile power.
The deputy secretary of state also criticised China for making it appear “in a very negative way” that any move by the US, its allies or partners tied to security in the Pacific could mean “Nato exportation”.
Senior US official explains how China risks crossing ‘red line’ with Russia
Senior US official explains how China risks crossing ‘red line’ with Russia
He believed that cooperation went beyond issues pertaining to China, noting that relations with Beijing came up during such conversations.
“In the past, when you talked about a country in Europe’s Indo-Pacific strategy, that was largely how they thought about China,” said Campbell.