Editor's note: The video column does what the name says – take note of ideas that may make people uncomfortable. By taking notes and breaking down various opinions, we try to provide an alternative line of thinking that will hopefully generate deeper discussions. This is part one of the series "NATO with Asian characteristics" focusing on NATO's expansion in Asia. 

NATO is coming to Asia. Over the past few months, NATO had invited, for the first time, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea to its foreign ministers meeting. South Korea's state intelligence service joined NATO's Cooperation Cyber Defense Center of Excellence as its first Asian member. Japan agreed to attend the NATO summit in June in Madrid.

We know this has been coming for some time now. The NATO 2030 report published in 2020 called on the alliance to give "much more time, political resources and action to the security challenges posed by China." The report also proposed establishing a consultative body to bring NATO and "other institutions and partners as relevant" together on China. And at the June NATO summit, its next Strategic Concept will be finalized. Dealing with China's influence will be part of it.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that "China will soon have the biggest economy in the world; they already have the second largest defense budget, the biggest navy. They are investing heavily into advanced military capabilities. And they don't share our values."

NATO is coming to Asia for China. But it's not going to look like the traditional NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established as a military block made up of European and North American countries to stand against a superpower. It had a defensive nature to it. 

But, after the Cold War ended, the organization continued to evolve. A Brookings Institute report in 1999 wrote that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the alliance was seen not just as an instrument to defend allied territories, but also "an organization that possessed the necessary military capacity to assist others in preventing, controlling, and mitigating the consequences of internal conflicts throughout Europe."

That mission quickly changed, too. In the first two decades of the 21st century, NATO was involved in major geopolitical and military events outside of Europe in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. NATO has remained active in shaping the global political landscape to its will. Its enlargement has a direct linkage to the crisis we are seeing today.

Professor John Mearsheimer of University of Chicago said in an interview that "The Russians view Ukraine becoming a part of NATO as an existential threat. This is why going back to April 2008, Putin drew a line in the sand. He said, this is not going to happen. This is a threat to our survival. And everything that has happened since then fits that basic paradigm."

Asia is different. NATO is trying to do two things: Keep China in check, like it did to the Soviet Union, while making sure it doesn't go too far so that its member states still could engage with China for profits and for political cooperation. It's a very difficult balancing act to pull off. What's clear, so far, is that the playbook in Eastern Europe is not going to work. We don't hear a whiff about bringing any Asian countries into the organization.

What we are seeing is piecemeal action: Get close to South Korea on intelligence; Get close to Japan politically. It's not that NATO doesn't need a comprehensive strategy. It’s that it doesn't have to provide "security" in every aspect. Its member states are taking care a lot of the actions by themselves. India was promised more weapons by the UK and U.S.; Japan and the UK reached a security agreement in May; AUKUS puts nuclear submarines in the region; And there's the Quad, designed specifically against China.

Let's call it NATO with Asian characteristics. It's not a full-force, all-out campaign against China. It takes advantage of existing structures and treaties, complements and enhances what's already been done.

But it doesn't make it less threatening. NATO is coming to Asia. It's becoming a military arm for a particular political ideology in the region. And we all know that this crusade can hardly end in peace.

Scriptwriter: Huang Jiyuan

Videographer: Zhou Xin

Video editor: Hao Xinxin

Cover image: Xing Cheng

Managing editor: Huang Jiyuan

Senior producer: Bi Jianlu

Chief Editor: Li Shou'en

Supervisor: Mei Yan

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)