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China supports Lavrov’s statement on negative role of US’ Asian Pacific alliances

"AUKUS and Quad are narrow cliques that are selective and closed, and also proclaim a mentality of the Cold War and zero-sum games," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said

BEIJING, October 8. /TASS/. China supports Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement about the negative role of AUKUS (Australia, the UK, and the US) and Quad (the US, Japan, India, and Australia) military alliances established in the Asian Pacific Region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Friday.

"This statement reflects the shared concerns of most Asian Pacific countries. AUKUS and Quad are narrow cliques that are selective and closed, and also proclaim a mentality of the Cold War and zero-sum games," he said. "This will provoke a regional arms race, escalate the situation and undermine the regional solidarity and cooperation," the diplomat said.

"The regional countries must be highly vigilant about the attempts to blur or undermine the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and together stand against any action that violates the international justice or provoke discord and confrontation in the region," the spokesman added.

Speaking at the Foreign and Defense Policy Council assembly on October 2, Sergey Lavrov stated that AUKUS and Quad alliances, created by the US, undermine the existing Asian Pacific cooperation formats under the ASEAN aegis. The new Indo-Pacific strategy, expressed in the AUKUS format, is aimed at dismantling "the system that was based on the necessity to respect the indivisibility of security," Lavrov said, adding that the new strategy "openly stated the containment of China as its goal".

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