Thank you very much.
That is a very timely question in terms of the global affairs of the 21st century. Sometimes we hear this part of the world referred to as the “global south”, but the sizes of the populations and the per capita GDPs of these global south countries are very different. However, as long as each of them is a sovereign country, it has one vote at the United Nations. Each country has its own pride, history and culture, and we have to respect those.
When we have meetings with our friends in southeast Asian countries—ASEAN—they have a very strong idea that we are equals. We talk to each other and come up with a consensus and find a middle ground to go in the right direction. It may take some time to come up with a consensus, but at the end of the day it's the only way to achieve certain things together. No single country can do important things on its own. It needs to have friends and like-minded countries to achieve certain things.
When we say we do something in the ASEAN way or the Indo-Pacific way, we respect each country's voice.