MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/. The West cannot stop the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said in an interview with TASS published on Tuesday.
The SCO’s attractive and needed potential is growing in Asia, the senior Russian diplomat pointed out. "Despite its pressure, the West cannot stop this process," he stressed.
As the senior Russian diplomat pointed out, "amid the intensifying international turbulence, the larger part of Asia makes its stake on stability and the preservation of the growth dynamics."
Asia’s major challenge today is to determine the pathway of its development, he said.
"The first option that is organic for the entire region is to continue the policy line towards joint development, respectful dialogue on an equitable basis, the understanding and utilization of the benefits of pan-Asian integration, the synergy of regional and sub-regional potentials," the senior Russian diplomat pointed out.
"The second variant that is being aggressively imposed by Washington and its allies is to shape an alternative vector relying on the West-needed tasks of containing any centers of independent economic, technological and other growth, including through intensified confrontation," Rudenko said.
The second strategy manifests itself in the attempts to destabilize the system of multilateral cooperation in Asia with the aim of reformatting the region to service the interests of one pole, he pointed out.
"In order to support this course, the military Euro-Atlantic component represented by NATO, which has declared its global mandate, and its particular members is being introduced into the region. New selective structures are being created under the ‘Indo-Pacific brand," the Russian deputy foreign minister said.
Moscow builds its policy line in Asia through the goals of mutually respectful and mutually beneficial development, he stressed.
The spectrum of cooperation fields with Asian partners is extremely wide and includes trade, economic and investment ties with the reliance on the hi-tech and digital sectors and joint infrastructural projects, he added.
"The energy component is especially significant today: Russia’s potential in all the areas of the fuel and energy complex, be it atom, oil or gas, is indisputable. Our country also plays a leading role in the issues of food security that are felt acutely today in many parts of the world and require weighed and simultaneously active steps. Naturally, Asia with its multi-billion population is no exception in this respect," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.