The paper analyses the possibility of formation of an Asian counterpart to
the NATO alliance, focusing on the obstacles to and challenges involved. In
the first part of the paper, the author reflects on the cooperation of
certain Indo-Pacific countries (especially Japan, South Korea, Australia,
and New Zealand) with NATO, including the scope and progress of their
engagement to date. Next, the paper provides a brief review of early
21st-century proposals for a ?global? NATO, which ultimately remained
unrealized. The central section examines the concept of an Asian NATO,
analyzing potential member countries and exploring the obstacles to the
realization of such an alliance. The author identifies three major to the
creation of an Asian NATO: culturalpolitical, geo-economic, and
geographic/geostrategic. Each of these obstacles is analysed and interpreted
individually, under the assumption that the USA would be willing to initiate
the alliance?s formation. These challenges primarily concern the potential
Asian member countries themselves. The final section provides a summary of
the key arguments and presents the concluding remarks.