Lavrov: Code of conduct should be negotiated in Asia-Pacific region
MOSCOW. Sept 5 (Interfax) - Russia has proposed adopting a legally binding code of conduct for Asia and the Pacific.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese leader Hu Jintao proposed forming a universal architecture of security and sustained development for the Asia-Pacific region in autumn 2010, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an article in the Indonesian magazine Strategic Review, posted on the website of the Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn foreign affairs magazine.
"The two leaders urged the Asia-Pacific nations, while cooperating in the sphere of security on a bilateral and multilateral basis, to respect sovereignty, not to interfere in each other's affairs, to reaffirm adherence to the principle of equal and indivisible security and to the defensive essence of their military policy, not to use military force and not to threaten to use it, not to attempt to change regimes or undermine other countries' stability, and not to make threats to use military force," Lavrov said.
"This initiative could become a unifying idea for the Asia-Pacific region, and the positive reaction to it from many of the influential Asia-Pacific states confirms that the principles proposed can lay solid groundwork for negotiating a legally binding code of conduct in the region. In our view, the time is ripe to think of laying political-legal framework for implementing them," the Russian foreign minister said.
"It is of crucial importance to ensure that this vision of regional architecture become strongly compatible with the strategy of dynamic balance, proposed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Raden Mohammad Marty Muliana Natalegawa, where the leitmotif is the Asia-Pacific nations' concerted efforts to maintain security, stability and prosperity," Lavrov writes.
"The mechanism of East Asian summits is a natural venue for negotiating an integral strategy of inclusive security for East Asia," Lavrov writes. The East Asia Summit (EAS) session in Bali on November 19, 2011, demonstrated that dialogue between state leaders can enhance the effectiveness and coordination between regional countries and achieve a synergy effect, he also said.
"In our opinion, it would be in our mutual interests to expand multi-tier diplomacy with the participation of the EAS and other organizations and forums, such as the Association of East-Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), ASEAN's regional security forum, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus.The mechanism of East Asian summits could become the backbone of the infrastructure of this kind. In the context of Russia's ASEAN presidency we are prepared to work for establishing partnership ties between APEC and the EAS, Lavrov said.
