JAKARTA, July 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he and Wang Yi, director of the Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, discussed formulating a joint policy stance in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region amid the West's actions targeting Beijing and Moscow.

"It is clear that the orientation of these (Western - TASS) strategies against China and the Russian Federation is not being concealed at all. So, naturally, today we had a rather detailed discussion with Mr. Wang Yi as to how we should shape our policy in that region," he told reporters on Thursday.

Lavrov pointed out that China and Russia’s policy is based on "the necessity of strengthening, not diluting the central role" of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as the need for all countries that are politically active in the region to respect this principle. "The West does not show such respect, in the same way, actually, that it shows no respect for the fundamental principle of the sovereign equality of countries," the top Russian diplomat added.