... Chinese power pushed the smaller countries of Southeast Asia to forget about past grievances and integrate this country into ASEAN.
Cuba's geopolitical position is much more complicated. Its proximity to the US mainland and remoteness from other great ... ... doubts may arise if you look at the modern Canadian government and its prime minister.
At the same time, Cuba's remoteness from Russia or China does not create even a hypothetical possibility that the United States would help its development in order to ...
... center of global affairs? Yaroslav Lissovolik (Lissovolik), Program Director with the Valdai Discussion Club and member of the Russian International Affairs Council, shared his views on these matters with Global Times (GT) reporter Xia Wenxin in an e-mail ... ... Southeast Asia has become an important venue for multilateral cooperation this year, a year that you have called "the Year of ASEAN centrality." Can you elaborate on what role ASEAN has played in the G20 and the world?
Lissovolik:
ASEAN is at the ...
... building international institutions. The Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Russia-India-China grouping, BRICS, and the mechanisms for dialogue and partnership between the Russian Federation and ASEAN, Africa and Latin America need a boost for further development. Russia is capable of playing a leading role in developing a framework ideology for these organizations, harmonizing the interests of partner countries and coordinating on common agendas....
... recommendations are facilitating Track 1.5 and 2 dialogue, also fostering people-to-people exchange, traditionally welcomed by the Asian societies. One of such areas is the interest in relatively inexpensive opportunities to train specialists and engineers in Russia. The idea of
ASEAN centrality
could also facilitate the acceptance of Russia in the Southeast Asian subregion, which forms the core of the Asia-Pacific as a whole. ASEAN’s
sourness
over the recent summit in Washington represents a chance for the Russian Federation ...
... One of the most powerful drivers here is the rise in China’s share of global trade, most notably within the Global South. In Russia’s case there is the record-high level of trade turnover with China in 2021 at nearly 150 bn US dollars after a rise by ... ... across the Global South. In particular there is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) led by China and the ASEAN economies. In Africa the key integration initiative is the African Continental Free Trade Area launched in 2018. Another ...
... would almost certainly object to any such formal announcement, and neither Russia nor India wants to inadvertently risk having that country view their truly neutral grand strategic intentions with suspicion.
Vietnam
To begin, it deserves mentioning that Russia and India each have strategic partnerships with the centrally positioned ASEAN state of Vietnam. It would therefore be best if they incorporated that country into the VCMC and began trilaterally coordinating with it. The Vietnamese President was just in Moscow where he and his host agreed to renew their strategic partnership....
... neither the ambition nor the resources to dominate Greater Eurasia, could play a key role in maintaining Eurasian equilibrium, which requires Russo-Indo-Chinese understanding. While being realistic about its partners and their complicated relations, Russia needs to proactively facilitate efforts at better understanding between New Delhi and Beijing, and promote positive interaction among the three great powers. Such interaction is also needed for engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a key aspect of the Greater Eurasian Partnership. It is even more necessary for building up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a continent-wide dialogue platform.
Moreover, close relations with New Delhi would help Moscow in engaging ...
... infrastructure and other economic projects.
Even though Russia’s opposition to the U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific is likely to stay unchanged for a while, it is possible for Moscow to narrow down its differences with other regional perspectives. As Russia’s dialogue with ASEAN countries and Vietnam, in particular, shows, Moscow
is ready
to “explore promising areas of interaction” in the framework of ASEAN Indo-Pacific Outlook. India’s vision, as should be well realised in Moscow, does not contradict Russian convictions ...
... out. The NEA countries should probably scrutinize the experience of Southeast Asia, where the subsisting socioeconomic and political plurality, grave inter-country contradictions and conflicts did not hamper successful integration under the banners of ASEAN.
As a matter of fact, a certain degree of fragmentation and disunity are present in the very dynamic and extensive Russia–China cooperation in the NEA. So far, our interactions have often fanned out into a set of highly important yet independent projects that are not always closely interconnected. Individual projects are implemented in the military-technical area,...
... such as trade, cultural and educational exchanges, tourism, energy, and agriculture, highlighting both positive aspects and structural weaknesses impeding the progress. They also paid particular attention to the opportunities of collaboration between Russia and ASEAN as well as Cambodia and EAEU, gaining its momentum amidst Cambodia taking over coordination of the Russia – ASEAN Dialogue in 2021.
Summary of the Discussion
Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)
Russia ...
