Wang Jiahao (Master of Moscow State Institute of International Relations), Luo Jinyi (Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, The Education University of Hong Kong) In June 2020, it is interesting to see the overlapping of the two exchanges between Russia and ASEAN. On the 17th, Russian Ambassador to ASEAN Alexander Ivanov held a video conference with foreign ministers, and talked about how the two sides can cooperate to promote recovery in the post-epidemic era, including financial stability, food security, supply chain and connectivity recovery, market opening.
The digital economy, etc., believes that multilateral cooperation should be focused on existing regional organizations (such as the East Asia photo background removing Summit, the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting); he specifically mentioned the proposition of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi: In ASEAN's collective efforts to deal with infectious diseases, Russia can play the role of "anchor". But less than ten days later, the 36th ASEAN Summit issued a Chairman's Statement, which raised objections to China's so-called historical rights in the South China Sea, but put Russia in a very embarrassing position, because Moscow's so-called neutral position on the South China Sea issue speaks volumes. It's the desire to keep as strategically vague as possible. President Putin once claimed to establish a long-term partnership with ASEAN, but how serious is it and in what direction?
To examine Russia's "turning eastward", this is one of the important issues that cannot be avoided. Strategic Partnership: ASEAN's Hope and Russia's Words and Actions The five Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand) established ASEAN in 1967, pursued an "anti-Communist" foreign policy, viewed the Soviet Union as a security threat, and lacked ties. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the ideological rivalry less intense, Russia and ASEAN re-established their dialogue partnership in 1996. At the same time, ASEAN expanded to include countries with communist regimes such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.