ASEAN: Talks Between Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and His Chinese Counterpart Wang Yi

Russia and China should jointly oppose the interference of forces outside the region in Southeast Asian affairs and do everything necessary to prevent the ASEAN structure from collapsing. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this at a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos.

The trilateral meeting between Laos, China, and Russia was organized on the sidelines of the ASEAN ministerial meeting.

For his part, Wang Yi, among other things, presented Lavrov with the results of his meeting in China with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, during which the Kiev representative made it clear that Ukraine “will be ready to negotiate with Moscow for a stable and lasting peace.”

“Moscow appreciates China’s balanced and consistent position on the conflict in Ukraine,” Lavrov said, according to whom “Russia welcomed Beijing’s initiatives to promote approaches that take into account the interests of all parties involved and anticipating the elimination of the root causes of the conflict.” The ministers also discussed the prospects for creating “a new security architecture in Eurasia, taking into account the stagnation of Euro-Atlantic mechanisms.”

The Russian Foreign Minister also congratulated his Chinese counterpart on the success of the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. “The results of this event will undoubtedly be of great importance for China’s further economic and social development, as well as for the global economy,” Lavrov said. “The implementation of the development goals of our countries is a priority on the agenda and contributes to the development of strategic cooperation, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pay constant attention,” the Russian minister added.