French President Emmanuel Macron does not approve of NATO's plans to open a representative office in Japan, as he believes that the alliance should focus on the North Atlantic region. This was reported by the British newspaper Financial Times (FT), citing informed sources.

According to eight interlocutors of the newspaper, the position of Paris complicates the ongoing negotiations on the opening of the first NATO office in the Indo-Pacific region (ITR).
France believes that Washington and Tokyo are interested in opening a representative office, against the backdrop of growing tensions around Taiwan, pushing European countries to become more actively involved in resolving Asian security issues. Paris worries that such moves could further complicate relations between Beijing and European countries fearful of Chinese arms supplies to Russia.

China's foreign ministry said earlier that Beijing opposed NATO's plan to open a liaison office in Japan.