PHNOM PENH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2022) Moscow and Beijing are united in their efforts to promote the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Southeast Asia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday.
"Together with them (Chinese partners) we defend the expediency and the need to preserve the formats that have been created around ASEAN, we defend the need to respect and in the future the central role that ASEAN plays... in this region and in the surrounding region. But the West has its own plans," Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit that took place in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh.
The minister noted that Western countries paid "lip service" to the role of ASEAN, while in reality pushing their own agenda and promoting confrontational mechanisms and instruments.
Lavrov also stated that the West had been promoting formats in the region that are not open to all comers and involve the militarization of the region with the obvious aim of containing China and Russian interests in the Asia-Pacific. Both Moscow and Beijing understand this and make efforts to prevent this, according to the minister.
ASEAN is a political and economic union founded in 1967 to promote economic, political, defense and cultural cooperation among Southeast Asian countries. Its 10 members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China has been an ASEAN full Dialogue Partner since 1996.
Russia has also been closely cooperating with ASEAN for several decades. In 1991, the Dialogue ASEAN � Russia was launched, with Moscow later evolving to a full Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in 1996.
