Key points

• On July 7 and 8, 2026, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held its 77th Leaders’ Summit in Ankara, Türkiye. Although the focus of the summit was the alliance’s plans and progress in moving toward NATO 3.0, security affairs in Asia were also addressed.
• Leaders attended from NATO’s four Indo-Pacific partners: Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japan (collectively called the IP-4). However, only one IP-4 head of state—President Lee Jae Myong from South Korea—attended.
• China was called out several times, including for its firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on July 6, for being an enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine, for nontransparency in its conventional and nuclear military modernization, and for its security ties with North Korea, Russia, and Iran. General Secretary Mark Rutte stated that NATO “cannot be naive about China.”
• However, the end of summit communiqué, the “Ankara Summit Declaration,” did not mention China. In contrast, it labeled Russia “a long-term threat” and stated that Iran “must never have a nuclear weapon.” In commentary on the summit, People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-run media claimed that division, friction, and dissention existed among the alliance’s members.
• A key focus was the need for NATO members to cooperate in expanding the alliance’s defense industrial base (DIB). Participants from the IP-4 countries indicated that their nations’ defense industries are well positioned to support those efforts. Going forward, DIB cooperation, systems co-development, and sales will likely become key features of collaboration between the IP-4 and other NATO nations.