US-led alliances in Asia-Pacific meant to erode ASEAN-Centric formats: Lavrov

Moscow [Russia], October 2 (ANI/Sputnik): Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday that new US-led alliances, like Quad and AUKUS, are seeking to undermine ASEAN-centric cooperation formats in the Asia-Pacific.
"One of the most fashionable trends today is the so-called Indo-Pacific strategies, which were invented by the United States and manifested in the Quad quartet -- the US, Japan, India, Australia -- and, more recently, the creation of the AUKUS bloc," Lavrov said in an address to the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy think thank.
All these aim to "blur the universal formats in the Asia-Pacific region, which for the past decades have existed under the auspices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," he added.
The Russian minister went on to describe this sort of an approach to regional politics as detrimental to the existing system and openly aimed at containing China.
Last month, the US, Australia and the United Kingdom announced a new trilateral AUKUS defense partnership. While the new trilateral bloc is ostensibly not aimed against anyone, China has expressed concern that AUKUS would undermine peace and security as well as intensify the arms race in the region. (ANI/Sputnik)