All national dailies reported on the “Strategic Concept” adopted by the NATO leaders on Wednesday, saying that in a major shift from its post-Cold War conciliatory approach to Moscow Russia is now “the most significant and direct threat” to the security of NATO. The organization also mentioned China for the first time in the document, which guides its actions for the next decade, by saying that China poses “systemic challenges.” This was the first time since 2010 for NATO to revise the concept, which 12 years ago said that the organization would seek a strategic partnership with Russia.  

Mainichi wrote that the United States and Europe redefined their military alliance in response to the drastic change in the global security environment resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing influence. The paper quoted President Biden as telling reporters after the summit: “This has been a historic NATO Summit…. At this summit, we rallied our Alliances to meet both the direct threats that Russia poses to Europe and the systemic challenges that China poses to a rules-based world order…. We will defend every inch of NATO territory.”  

Yomiuri wrote that the NATO leaders expressed their resolve to respond to authoritarian nations in a unified manner by continuing to expand the alliance. Asahi wrote that the summit was a historic turning point as NATO expanded the scope of the military alliance between the United States and the North Atlantic to Asia. Nikkei said that NATO is at the biggest turning point since the end of the Cold War. The paper also wrote that Japan should strengthen security in East Asia with the involvement of South Korea and Southeast Asian countries.