Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the West is “militarizing” Southeast Asia to restrict Russian and Chinese interests.
At a news conference following the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, Lavrov chastised the US for its efforts in the region, which both Russia and the West consider as a possible strategic geopolitical struggle in the coming decades.
“The United States and its NATO allies are trying to master this space,” Lavrov told reporters.
He said Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy was an attempt to bypass “inclusive structures” for regional cooperation and would involve “the militarisation of this region with an obvious focus on containing China, and containing Russian interests in the Asia-Pacific”.