“Nato [stands for] north Atlantic, and both article V and article VI [in its statutes] clearly limit the scope to north Atlantic,” a French official, who asked not to be named, said on Tuesday.

Actually, it is what they said

Despite calls for Nato to work more closely with allies in north-east Asia, France is apparently reluctant to support anything that fuels tensions between the alliance and China.

Of course, it is because France does not want a conflict with China