President Joe Biden is leading the U.S. delegation to this week's NATO summit in Lithuania. While the focus of the meetings is Europe, there's also a growing presence of Asia Pacific nations at the event.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been extending its reach into the Asia Pacific.
Last year in Madrid marked the first time the NATO summit included leaders from Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The leaders of all those countries are returning for this yearʻs gathering in Vilnius.
NATO officials have even talked about opening a regional liaison office in Tokyo, a move opposed by France.
On Friday, an official in President Emmanuel Macronʻs administration told reporters that “the NA of NATO stands for North Atlantic.”
But a statement on NATO's own website said the organization is “strengthening dialogue and cooperation with its partners in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The four regional participants from outside the North Atlantic all support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, and back economic sanctions against Moscow.
While Ukraine is a focus of the NATO summit, China is likely to warrant a mention at the leaders’ meeting — as it did last year.
Last year’s phrasing was that China posed a “systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security.”
China's government said that was aimed to “stoke confrontation and antagonism," shortly before issuing its own statement that called NATO itself a “systemic challenge to global security and stability.”
