Russia and China Ready to Expand Shanghai Org.
The annual conference of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations began yesterday in Manila. Diplomats from the United States, European Union, China and Russia were also invited. Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Yang Jiechi took advantage of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's absence (she is on a tour of the Middle East) to urge the Southeastern Asian countries to cooperate with them on security to establish closer ties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in an effort to gain allies in their opposition to U.S. missile defense plans in Eastern Asia.
The ASEAN consists of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The foreign ministers of 17 key partners of ASEAN states were also invited. The U.S. was the only country not represented by its top diplomat. Instead Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte represented the country.
Foreign Minister Richard Yeo of Singapore expressed his disappointment that the U.S. secretary of state was not present. Many politicians in Southeast Asia feel that the U.S. administration pays too little attention to their region. Trade turnover between the region and the U.S. has hardly increased since 2000, for example. The Russian and Chinese officials denounced U.S., Japanese and Australian missile defense plans.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 03, 2007
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