ASTANA, April 26. /TASS/. US-oriented military and political structures in the Asia-Pacific region, such as QUAD and AUKUS, are trying to transform the security system in the region into a US-centric one, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.

"As for the Asia-Pacific region, here too we see systematic attempts to reformat the regional security system from ASEAN-centric to American-centric. This is being done by strengthening Washington-oriented military-political structures such as QUAD, AUKUS and the US-Japan-Philippines triad," Shoigu said at a meeting of SCO defense ministers in Astana.

According to the top Russian defense official, the "Taiwan factor" is being actively used to increase pressure on China.