TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — French President Emmanuel Macron doubled down on his opposition to NATO’s planned Japan office on Wednesday (July 12), following the military alliance’s annual summit in Lithuania.

NATO has increasingly sought to build its presence in the Indo-Pacific as China’s power grows, and the plans for the Japanese office were confirmed in May. However, Macron told AFP that he believes the alliance should focus on the Euro-Atlantic region.

"Whatever people say, geography is stubborn," Macron said after the summit. "The Indo-Pacific is not the North Atlantic, so we must not give the impression that NATO is somehow building legitimacy and a geographically established presence in other areas," he added.

Country leaders from the Indo-Pacific region were in attendance at Wednesday’s summit, including Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, who said the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific are “inseparable.” Kishida’s comments echoed those from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said "security is not regional security, it's global" and opening a Japan NATO office is still “on the table.”

“This is not about NATO becoming a global military alliance, but this is about recognizing that this region faces global challenges and the rise of China is part of that,” Stoltenberg said.

A NATO office in Japan would support the military alliance’s efforts to expand cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, which NATO said in April is an important part of its 2030 agenda. Expanding ties in the region was also referenced in NATO’s 2022 white paper, in order to “tackle cross-regional challenges and shared security interests.”

A NATO office in Japan would allow the military alliance to deepen cooperation with not only Japan but other regional powers such as South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Both Australia and New Zealand committed to greater intelligence sharing and cooperation on regional security issues with Japan in 2022, and the prime ministers of both countries have attended NATO’s annual summits for the past two years.