Japanese leader joins regional allies in skipping NATO summit

By Yoshifumi Takemoto and David Brunnstrom

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Japan said on Monday its Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has cancelled plans to attend this week's NATO summit, joining other Indo-Pacific countries in saying that their leaders will not attend and raising questions about future regional cooperation.

Japan's foreign ministry announced the scrapping of Ishiba's June 24-26 trip just three days after announcing he would attend the meeting in The Hague to "reaffirm with NATO allies and others the recognition that the security of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is inseparable."

The decision came after U.S. President Donald Trump joined Israel's air war against Iran and mooted the possibility of the Tehran government being toppled.

The Japanese ministry said "various circumstances" led to the cancellation. The U.S. State Department said it had no comment on the cancellations and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Japan's Fuji Television said Ishiba was pulling out because a planned meeting between NATO and the group of four Indo-Pacific nations (IP4) was not likely to take place, and because a meeting with Trump was also unlikely.

South Korea and Australia, which along with Japan and New Zealand are key U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific and make up the IP4, have also said their leaders would not attend. Trump had wanted to hold a summit with the IP4, a source told Reuters previously.

Japan said Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya will travel to the Netherlands to attend NATO-related functions and hold bilateral meetings.

LITTLE BENEFIT

Japan's leader has attended every NATO summit since 2022, when it was first invited to participate following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Former President Joe Biden pushed European allies to pay more attention to the threats in the Indo-Pacific, particularly from China, and for Indo-Pacific countries to get involved with Ukraine, but the Trump administration has encouraged regional allies to focus on their own security.

Christopher Johnstone, a former Biden White House official now with Asia Group strategic consultancy, said the absence of the Australian, Japanese and South Korean leaders signalled, at least for now, a symbolic breaking of the connection between security in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

"Although it appears that the proximate cause of Ishiba’s withdrawal was his inability to secure a meeting with President Trump, it’s also probably the case that all three leaders see little benefit to joining a meeting that will feature intensified U.S. pressure on allies to increase defense spending," he said.

Last week the Financial Times said Japan had canceled an annual high-level meeting the United States after it asked Tokyo to boost defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3%.

At NATO this week, Trump is expected to press his demand that all European allies boost defense spending to 5% of GDP. The Nikkei reported on Saturday that the Republican president was demanding the same level from Asian allies, including Japan.

The FT said the higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset Australia, another key U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific, by launching a review of a massive project to provide it with nuclear-powered submarines.

(Reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto in Tokyo and David Brunnstrom, Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Writing by Satoshi Sugiyama and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim, Hugh Lawson and Alistair Bell)