DUSHANBE, July 14. /TASS/. Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy is open about its tasks of deterring China and isolating Russia and aims to erode the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Russian delegation said at a meeting of the Foreign Ministers’ Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Dushanbe on Wednesday, the delegation’s sources reported.

The effort of developing the polycentric world system based on the UN’s key role and the solid basis of international law is being confronted today by the growing desire of the United States and its allies "to try to preserve their predominant position with the use of force," the Russian delegation stated.

In particular, this policy can be seen in the so-called coalitions of like-minded partners "with the artificial structure of their participants" and the idea of holding a summit for democracy that clearly opposes the United Nations, and generally in Washington’s strategy of the so-called free and open Indo-Pacific region "In the US interpretation," the Russian delegates said.

The Russian side believes that this strategy openly declares the objectives of deterring China and is isolating Russia and is actually aimed at eroding the role of ASEAN and "the inclusive consensus-based structures in the Asian-Pacific space that have been built around this association for decades."

As the Russian delegation explained, the West "has adopted the concept of the so-called ‘rules-based world order’" that implies imposing its own values and guidelines on sovereign states and "expanding the tools of pressure on the countries that pursue an independent foreign policy course, and ultimately legitimizing the West’s neocolonial policy."

At the same time, the SCO "has confidently secured its positions in the new system of international coordinates" over the past period and is perceived today as "a reliable and predictable partner," the Russian delegation pointed out.

As the sources in the Russian delegation said, today the SCO is involved in "complex and largely multi-vector processes of the contemporary world’s profound transformation" and is actively promoting "the philosophy of mutual understanding and creation."