BEIJING, September 18. /TASS/. The countries of the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) are keeping a close eye on the United States’ attempts to kindle a regional conflict with the help of the North Atlantic Alliance, Chinese expert in the field of international security Guo Xinning, a senior researcher at Taihe Analytical Institute, professor at the Institute of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, has told TASS.

"Given the strategic plans toward China that the United States is hatching, NATO, by intervening in Asia-Pacific issues, is seeking to establish closer contacts with regional US allies," he said, commenting on the upsurge in the alliance's activity in Asia. "Of course, regional states are paying close attention to this primarily because such policies could lead to the risk of war and conflict. The way it happened as a result of NATO's eastward expansion in Europe."

Guo stressed that since its inception, the alliance has been used as a tool to promote US global strategy "regardless of whether NATO acknowledges or denies it."

"It can be said that wherever there are wars and armed conflicts, NATO's shadow lurks," he added.

Even though this military-political alliance may have played some role in maintaining the strategic balance during the Cold War, Guo remarked, "further on everything is mottled with the traces left by the atrocities of the North Atlantic Alliance."

"We felt its presence during the war in Iraq, during the Arab Spring, during the war in Afghanistan, and now in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," he emphasized.

US attempts to establish global hegemony

"In recent years, the ambitions of the alliance have grown. It acts on a global scale, seeking to blanket the whole world with its strategy," Guo said. "Behind NATO's globalization process is the United States, seeking to ensure its dominance in the world."

The Chinese scholar recalled that in recent years, the US has paid especially close attention to the Asian region.

"The alliance’s interference in the affairs of the Asia-Pacific Region is a natural result of Washington's efforts. It can be said that the United States has achieved this by coercing the alliance’s members," he explained.

Guo noted that for quite a long time after the end of the Cold War, even though the United States constantly tried to stir things up, the Asia-Pacific region remained generally stable. Moreover, some NATO members, for whom "the situation has become relatively clear," have opposed the United States' ambitions in Asia. However, whether they (US allies - TASS) will eventually be able to withstand the pressure [from the United States] remains anyone’s guess," he concluded.