Visiting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg certainly knows the difficulty of persuading the Republic of Korea to provide military supplies to Ukraine, something it has not done. That's why he stressed to his hosts in a think tank speech in Seoul on Monday "what happens in Europe matters to the Indo-Pacific".

He is also aware that there is nothing to substantiate the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's overreach into the Asia-Pacific, as he also tried to peddle the notion that "what happens in Asia matters to NATO".

Getting into his groove during his stop in Tokyo, the saber-rattling NATO chief sought to expound on why the Asia-Pacific and the transatlantic security alliance matter to each other, claiming that China and Russia are leading a "pushback against the international rules-based order", drawing farfetched connections between the Ukraine crisis and the Taiwan question to try and support that proposition.

Ah, the smell of napalm in the morning wafts through his words, as what Stoltenberg invites, if not demands, from the two East Asian countries is to treat both China and Russia — their common major trading partners and neighbors — as enemies.

That explains why, despite the hospitality of the two East Asian countries' reception, Stoltenberg has basically met with cold shoulders in Seoul and reservation in Tokyo, despite the latter's own accelerated push for militarization.

He should be reminded that it was the ending of the Cold War that enabled the collective economic rise of Asian countries, deeply weaving the region into the fabric of economic globalization. During that process, the countries have shown enough wisdom and pragmatism to maintain regional peace and stability, turning it into a world growth driver.

While claiming to be a regional defensive alliance, NATO has constantly gone beyond its traditional areas for collective defense, made advances into new domains, and strengthened its military and security ties with Asia-Pacific countries. Such developments do not bode well for the region.

NATO needs?to abandon its Cold War mentality and confrontational mindset. Instead, it should do things that will contribute to the security and stability of Europe and the wider world, as Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, urged.

China is not a challenge to the international system and the West. It is willing and seeks to be a cooperation partner for all countries and a catalyst for improvement of the global governance system, to make it fairer and more effective in promoting the sustainable development goals.

It is NATO that is proving to be the pushback against world peace, stability, development and prosperity, as it has been given a new lease on life playing the wicked games of Washington.