Nowadays the whole humanity is facing gradual emergence of a new multipolar world. This process cannot be painless. In futile attempts to hold on to its elusive hegemony the US and its allies don’t shy away from anything: double standards in human rights, neocolonial narratives, hybrid wars (Ukraine is a convincing example). In these challenging times we cannot take peace and prosperity for granted and should be vigilant.
Today, on the ASEAN Day, let me address the situation in Asia and the Pacific, which is a vivid example on how global currents influence local soil.
For Russia one of the key integral elements of regional layout is Strategic Partnership with ASEAN, announced in Singapore during the 4th Russia-ASEAN summit in 2018. The year of 2023 is remarkable as far as we celebrate the 5th Anniversary of this event, though the overall history of our relationship with the Association goes back to 30 years more.
Russia values cooperation with ASEAN on its own merits and is a strong proponent of ASEAN centrality. For many decades ASEAN has been developing in accordance with its principles, with the primary one being the need to seek consensus, a balance of interests. In our take, “the ASEAN way” of solving the issues through respectful and attentive dialog is valuable and effective: just look at the outcomes of its high-level meetings, which reflect the trends that are underway in the field of science, technology, industry, climate change, etc. Same is true for the East Asia Summits and the ASEAN Regional Forum. Taking this opportunity, Russia is proud of promoting together with its partners initiatives on countering infectious diseases, development of tourism and volunteer movement as well as nuclear risk reduction.
Russia promotes strengthening, not diluting ASEAN centrality and the need for all other countries in this region and non-regional players that cooperate with ASEAN to respect the principles these relations were built on. The West shows no such respect, and is not eager to abide by fundamental principle of a sovereign equality of states. The US and their allies in contradiction with their own reassurances to support ASEAN centrality (our own experience of relations with the US tells us, that it will be unwise to blatantly believe their words) continue to diminish the role of ASEAN as mechanism and main acting force of the architecture of security and cooperation in Asia and the Pacific with their “Indo-Pacific strategies” and NATO expansion here. This brings ASEAN approaches to a serious test. NATO’s statements and its claim to a global role at last year’s summit in Madrid and the recent summit in Vilnius, disguised by the idea of an indivisibility of security in the Euro-Atlantic area and the Indo-Pacific region speak for themselves. The plans are to move part of NATO military infrastructure to this part of the world with the special emphasis on Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Two latter countries have already expressed their willingness to deploy American nuclear weapons on their territory or to acquire their own. This is a very dangerous trend amplified by Ukrainian nuclear ambitions. We want to warn our ASEAN friends to be vigilant with regard to the collective Western attempts to export conflict from Europe to Asia and the Pacific.
Without any prejudice to the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific, western concepts of the same name are non-inclusive and confrontational. Their authors openly state that their strategies are targeted against China and the Russian Federation. They gave birth to minilateral structures like AUKUS and QUAD. An idea of creating a new format QUAD+ASEAN is pushed forward. Participants of this format will be the same as in the East Asia Summits, but without Russia and China. The outcomes could be disastrous and lead to the division of ASEAN.
Another concern is US biosecurity activities in Southeast Asia. There is clear evidence that American laboratories in Ukraine, Georgia and Central Asia conduct research with extremely dangerous pathogens and also do some tests on local population. During World War II the Japanese carried out some dangerous activities in Singapore, and now Thailand and Cambodia could face the same problem, being used as a testing ground by the US.
Meanwhile, Russia-ASEAN practical cooperation is based on long-term action plan until 2025, adopted at the Russia-ASEAN Summit in 2021. It is multifaceted and wide-ranged. The plan attaches special importance to such areas as education, high technologies, digitalisation and smart cities. Meeting of ministers responsible for science and technological development in February 2023, as well as the first Russia-ASEAN consultations on digital cooperation in June 2023 were a proof of its success.
During the recent ministerial meeting in Jakarta in July, 2023 Russia and ASEAN Member States specifically addressed such issues as countering new challenges and threats, including terrorism, drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organised crime. Russia reaffirmed its readiness to expand and deepen programmes to train personnel for the relevant agencies of ASEAN countries by the Russian Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service. This cooperation was launched 10 years ago, and has been positively assessed by our partners since.
Within the economic dimension another promising issue is cooperation between ASEAN and the Eurasian Economic Union (members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia), based on the Memorandum of understanding between operators of the Eurasian Economic Commission and ASEAN. The prospects of this cooperation were discussed by EAEU and ASEAN representatives on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, 2023. The sides will be able to continue the dialogue on the margins of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September 2023.
Russia sees cooperation with ASEAN as a part of its concept of the Greater Eurasian Partnership that was formulated by President of Russia Vladimir Putin at Russia-ASEAN summit in 2016. ASEAN, the SCO (members are China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), and the EAEU were mentioned as the main driving forces of this concept, establishing itself through practical projects implemented on the ground in the EAEU, in the SCO, and in ASEAN. The number of areas where our interests and plans converge is only growing.
In this historical year of Russia-ASEAN relations, we as a stalwart supporter of ASEAN centrality have no doubt in Association’s relevance and its key role in regional security architecture. Russia is open to promote further cooperation with ASEAN in multiple formats. ASEAN Member States can rely on our goodwill. Happy ASEAN Day!
The author of the article is H.E. Nikolay Kudashev, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Singapore.
