The Indo-Pacific & Euro-Atlantic Hub for Shared Security Challenges Regional Kick Off

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDOewTLZzg

Video Script

Launch of the Hub and Building a Cooperation Platform

This brings together not only the Korean network but also colleagues from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and from NATO Headquarters. We aim to build a structured platform for ongoing dialogue between the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic regions. We hope it will evolve into a sustainable platform that supports dialogue, joint research and policy initiatives, and innovation among the four hubs regionally.

Welcome to the launch of the Indo-Pacific-Euro-Atlantic Hub for Sharing Security Challenges, hosted at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. This virtual network aims to foster an understanding of cooperation between our two regions, and as the Dean mentioned, it is very important today. So, we hope that the activities of this hub will help foster an understanding of the importance of this cooperation in uncertain times. Thank you once again.

We appreciate the cooperation. I would like to inform you that this is the first time we have developed a public engagement project at NATO Headquarters that connects four partner countries from the Indo-Pacific region: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. We are very pleased that more than 13 prominent think tanks and academic institutions from this region will participate in joint initiatives aimed at fostering an understanding of cooperation between NATO and your countries.

The Russia-Ukraine War and the Salience of Regional Linkages

This is not a new format, nor is our cooperation new. This initiative builds on years of robust partnership between NATO and our four Indo-Pacific partners – the countries we call IP4 – achieving concrete cooperation on issues of mutual interest. Exactly four years ago, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, following an eight-year war that had already begun in 2014.

That war has been a watershed moment for all of us. NATO Allies and Indo-Pacific countries have stood united against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression. This war is a stark reminder that global challenges require global cooperation, and it is also a reminder of how interconnected our two regions are. That the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific regions are more connected today than they have been at any time since the Second World War.

Strategic Autonomy and Security Threats for Middle Powers

Just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China and Russia declared a “limitless friendship” that has concrete implications for European security. Our cooperation is based on a positive agenda to foster political dialogue and practical cooperation in areas such as cyber defence, countering disinformation, arms control, emerging technologies, and upholding international law. Events that you will organize today and in the future are essential for our democratic debate.

Disinformation and malign influence campaigns threaten our democracies. By providing accurate information about what we are doing and what we are not doing, we can foster understanding and strengthen resilience. What we are witnessing is an unstable hybrid order where different organizational principles coexist and clash without adequate solutions or proper coordination at the strategic level, and this is the greatest threat for middle powers like Korea and others in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions.

The fragmentation of the order itself and the imminent risk is that the Indo-Pacific becomes a closed arena for great power contestation, leaving non-great powers like Korea with little strategic autonomy and little room for political choice. What Korea gains from this partnership, therefore, is not just membership of a bloc. It is positioning itself as an essential node in a trusted technological and industrial ecosystem that spans both regions.

The Future of Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic Cooperation

NATO IP4 cooperation is about shared vulnerabilities, shared values, and shared strategic interests in an increasingly interconnected world. As the international order evolves, the partnership between Japan and NATO will complement, not substitute, existing alliances. If approached with clarity, pragmatism, and sustained public engagement, it can become a sustainable pillar of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific cooperation.

Australia already has major relationships with NATO allies. So it makes sense that we would have a concept of how to engage with NATO. No country in the Indo-Pacific region would think that they would become a member of NATO. It would be good to discuss broader collective security and defence arrangements without using NATO as a benchmark. But that also means dealing with the pressure that the United States has to cooperate across both regions, as well as dealing with such contingencies.

Like most small states, New Zealand has a strong interest in seeing respect for international law, territorial integrity, and that aggression does not pay. I think that explains the strong and sustained support for Ukraine. But I think it also reflects concerns about China, which is becoming more assertive, particularly in maritime Asia and increasingly in the Pacific. The idea that the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are connected theatres resonates with New Zealand’s political leaders.

It has always been the case that we individually work on these cross-regional challenges. We recognize these challenges, and it is about developing individual resilience by sharing expertise, knowledge, and best practices in our respective regions, and developing the same standards. And increasingly by cooperating to produce future technologies, we can do better security for both regions.