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Speaking at the Xiangshan Forum, China's biggest military
diplomacy event, Shoigu said NATO is covering up a build-up of
forces in the Asia-Pacific region with an "ostentatious desire
for dialogue", Russia's TASS news agency reported.
Shoigu said NATO countries were promoting an arms race in the
region, increasing their military presence and the frequency and
scale of military drills there.
U.S. forces will use information exchanges with Tokyo and Seoul
on missile launches to deter Russia and China, Shoigu said. He
also accused Washington of trying to use climate change and
natural disasters as an excuse for "humanitarian interventions".
Shoigu said the emergence of new security blocs such as the Quad
and AUKUS undermined the role of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) and nuclear non-proliferation efforts in
the region.
At the same time, he said, Russia's move to revoke its
ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty did
not mean the end of the agreement, and Russia was not lowering
its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
"We are only seeking to restore parity with the United States,
who have not ratified this treaty," Russia's RIA news agency
quoted Shoigu as saying. "We are not talking about its
destruction."
Shoigu said that Moscow was ready for talks on the post-conflict
settlement of the Ukraine crisis on further 'co-existence' with
the West, but that Western countries needed to stop seeking
Russia's strategic defeat.
Making clear the conditions for such talks were not in place
yet, Shoigu said: "It is also important to ensure equal
relations between all the nuclear powers and permanent United
Nations Security Council members who carry special
responsibility for upholding peace and global stability."
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Sydney; Writing by Liz Lee and
Laurie Chen in Beijing and Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; Editing by
Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)
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