International security

Merkel offered Japan opportunity to join NATO


German Chancellor Angela Merkel unexpectedly proposed that Japan join the NATO alliance during a dinner meeting with Japanese Prime Minister last March, The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported on Saturday.

“Shinzo, why not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?” Merkel asked Abe.

“I can convince British Prime Minister Cameron and French President Hollande,” she added.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that a surprised Abe replied, “Maybe in the future,” in the knowledge that Japan is unlikely to join NATO.

“If we join now, our negotiations with Russia will stop,” Abe explained, referring to talks between Japan and Russia regarding some of the Kuril Islands, a volcanic archipelago bordering the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean.