The West Seeks to Use ASEAN Against Russia and China: FM Lavrov
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, Oct. 11, 2024. X/ @BPartisans
October 11, 2024 Hour: 5:43 am
The U.S. and its allies have decided to include the Asia-Pacific region within NATO’s sphere of interest, he pointed out.
On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States and its allies of seeking to use the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) against the interests of Russia and China.
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“The West wants to make ASEAN its main partner and direct this association primarily against the interests of Russia and China,” Lavrov said at a press conference following his participation in the 19th ASEAN summit.
The Russian diplomat added that the United States and its allies have clearly decided to include the Asia-Pacific region within NATO’s sphere of interest by creating closed political-military alliances controlled by Washington, such as those between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea; the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines; and Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan.
“All the practical measures taken by the United States and its allies (in the Asia-Pacific region) aim to isolate themselves from Russia, isolate themselves from China, and win over as many ASEAN members as possible,” Lavrov said and pointed out the inconsistency of the U.S. talking about creating a free and open Asia-Pacific region when their actions indicate otherwise.
“When today the United States and its allies unanimously confirmed their commitment to ASEAN’s central role in developing cooperation in this region, of course, to put it mildly, they were lying, because everything they do is aimed at containing China and Russia,” he emphasized.
Lavrov also denounced that the East Asia Summit ended without the final declaration due to attempts by the United States and its allies to politicize the document.
“The final declaration could not be adopted due to persistent attempts by the United States, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand to give this document a politicized character, moving away from the practice that has been used for decades within the framework of the East Asia summits, namely, not allowing the declarations to be saturated with some geopolitical and confrontational issues,” he stated.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE – Sputnik