|
N.A.T.O mulls Australian Alliance
NATO has launched a debate on forging formal partnerships with Pacific rim states such as Australia and New Zealand as it expands its role to fight threats around the globe. Foreign ministers from the 26-member organisation have gathered for a two-day meeting in Bulgaria. NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says the alliance "has to spread its wings because it is increasingly being called upon". The proposal to form privileged ties with Australia and New Zealand - and possibly South Korea and Japan as well - would reflect the active role those countries play in NATO missions. The ties would fall short of full membership. A NATO official says the idea is to bring into NATO's sphere of influence "like-minded, democratic nations that do have similar interests ... in global security". NATO spokesman James Appathurai says the alliance has no intention to become "a global policeman" or shift its centre of gravity away from its Euro-Atlantic roots. But he says today's "threats are global, or transnational at least, and we have to make sure that the team that addresses them is transnational". Mr Appathurai says Australia and New Zealand are the top candidates for NATO partnerships "because they are already in the field with us, next to us, contributing to our operations". US to benefit For the US, a special NATO partnership with Australia, Japan and South Korea would reinforce military links to countries contributing to its ad hoc "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. It would also boost its influence somewhat within NATO, which was riven along US-European lines over the 2003 Iraq invasion. Mr De Hoop Scheffer stresses that "no decisions are anticipated" during the meeting. Nevertheless, some overtures have already been made. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark both recently visited NATO headquarters in Brussels. Australia and New Zealand have troops in the currently 9,000-strong NATO deployment in Afghanistan. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-04-27 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=149998 |