Russia and China should join forces in Southeast Asia, Lavrov tells Wang at Asean meeting

China’s foreign minister pledges to work with Russia to safeguard their ‘core interests’ and ‘always be a good partner’

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke in Vientiane, Laos, on Thursday as diplomats from Asean and other nations met. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP

Published: 2:01pm, 26 Jul 2024Updated: 7:50pm, 26 Jul 2024

Russia and China should join efforts to counter interference from external forces in Southeast Asia, Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his Chinese counterpart as the strategic partners push for strong coordination in the region as a counterweight to the US.

Without specifying, he said: “We have a unified position. We must do everything to prevent it from being destroyed, [and] we believe it is important … to jointly counter interference by forces from outside this region in the affairs of Southeast Asia and to make contributions to its well-being and prosperity,” according to Russian news agency Tass.

“Other multilateral platforms are also important. Among them, of course, is Asean and the whole Asean-centric architecture,” Lavrov told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the sidelines of an Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meeting on Thursday.

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Ukraine says it’s ready to resume ‘good faith’ negotiations with Russia

Their meeting came a day after Wang held a three-hour meeting with Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba who said Ukraine was open to talks with Russia if Moscow acted “in good faith”.

Lavrov thanked Wang for China’s “balanced and consistent” position on the Ukraine crisis and welcomed Beijing’s initiatives to promote approaches that took into account the interests of all the stakeholders, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.

On Friday, Beijing announced that special envoy Li Hui would visit Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia from Sunday in the latest round of “shuttle diplomacy” on the Ukraine war.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Li aimed to “further exchange views with major members of the Global South” with the hope of “building conditions for the resumption of peace talks”.

The two diplomats also discussed “cooperation within Asean, considering the fact that certain countries have become increasingly proactive in setting up restricted bloc-based military and political mechanisms which are designed to undermine the Asean-centric security and stability framework for the Asia-Pacific region”.