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US Indo-Pacific strategy can harm cooperation in Asia Pacific - Russian minister

A new regional strategy of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" actively advanced by Australia, India, Japan and the US was announced by trump for countries in the Indian and Pacific Oceans

BEIJING, October 21. /TASS/. Implementation of the new strategy for "free and open Indo-Pacific" proposed by US President Donald Trump could destabilize the existing system of multilateral cooperation in Asia Pacific, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Monday.

"The Indo-Pacific strategy advanced by the US does not include all countries in the region, which will lead to establishment of so-called interest alliances. This does not meet objectives of creating a united and inseparable security space and is fraught with destabilization of the effectively functioning system of multilateral cooperation in Asia Pacific," Shoigu told a plenary session of the Xiangshan Forum on security.

According to him, including regional countries into this initiative "pulls them into regional conflict they have no relation to." At the same time, the minister stressed that conflicts outside of the region, like the ones that do pose challenges to these countries such as return of militants from Syria, "are not covered in the strategy."

"The Russian side supports the idea of establishing a "free and open partnership" in Asia, equal and inseparable security for all countries. At the same time, we have questions on certain points of the initiative proposed by the US. In particular, the Indo-Pacific strategy does not have geographical coordinates, it does not set out participation conditions and vaguely envisages its objectives," he pointed out.

Shoigu underlined that "artificial expansion of cooperation sphere to the so-called Indo-Pacific Region aimed at creating separation lines, pitting Asia Pacific states against each other and, in the end, to restrain regional development." "Similar methods have already been tried in Europe, Africa and the Middle East," he recalled.

A new regional strategy of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" actively advanced by Australia, India, Japan and the US was announced by trump for countries in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Experts believe that one of its key objectives is to constrain China’s influence in the region.

The Xiangshan Forum has been held in China since 2006. This year, defense ministers from 23 countries in Asia Pacific and Europe are attending the forum, while six countries are represented by heads of general staffs and 17 states sent deputy defense ministers.

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