Don't want to choose any major power: Cambodian FM

Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Thursday said it does not wish to engage in ongoing great power rivalry in the Southeast Asian nations and warned that the geopolitics in the region could end up in military confrontations.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Thursday said it does not wish to engage in ongoing great power rivalry in the Southeast Asian nations and warned that the geopolitics in the region could end up in military confrontations. Speaking at the Ministerial Session of Delhi Dialogue XII, he said Cambodia embraces all Indo-Pacific initiatives as long as they provide benefits for peace and uphold ASEAN centrality.

"Cambodia embraces all Indo-Pacific initiatives as long as they provide benefit for peace and development, are not designed against any country and respect and uphold ASEAN centrality... We stress cooperation and not confrontation. Our focus is on issues that bind us rather than issues that divide us. ...certainly don't want have to choose which major power to side with." He underlined how peace and stability in the region are under immense strain due to several geopolitical factors including the Russia-Ukraine war.

"As a result of many geopolitical and socioeconomic factors, the major power rivalry that continues to intensify, especially during these recent months, is the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and most noticeably, the spillover effect of the Russia-Ukraine war," he said. "These factors have shaped regional architecture and led to a large extend, to the conceptualisation of the recent term Indo-Pacific, as the geopolitical scope for regional engagement," he added.

The Minister said this regional architecture shift has given rise to a proliferation of many Indo-Pacific initiatives as proposed by our ASEAN dialogue partners. "All Indo-Pacific policies or strategies share many common elements with ASEAN at the centre. That said, they do have varying areas of... agenda. If not well managed, they could become confrontational tools for geopolitical competition and even worse military confrontations," he added.

India and ASEAN countries on Thursday agreed to deepen strategic partnership across the whole spectrum of political, security and economic and development cooperation as the two sides commemorated the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations. The Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in New Delhi today to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations in 2022 which has been designated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Singapore Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan co-chaired the meeting. The meeting agreed to further strengthen and deepen the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership for mutual benefit, "across the whole spectrum of political, security, economic, socio-cultural and development cooperation by utilizing relevant existing ASEAN-led mechanisms". (ANI)

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