A sub-forum themed "Global Geopolitical Outlook" at the Boao Forum for Asia 2023 is held on March 29, 2023 in South China's Hainan Province. (Photo: website of BFA)

Boao (People's Daily) - Asian countries should establish common security principles and respect the security issues of neighboring countries, said Liu Zhenmin, former under-secretary-general of the United Nations, in a sub-forum of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference 2023 on Wednesday.

Liu said Asian countries will be the biggest victims if China-US conflict escalates. He said many Asian countries used to be colonial or semi-colonial countries, and some suffered from military aggression. "If relations among major powers deteriorate further, more crises are to come," Liu said.

He said that regional cooperation among Asian countries after the Cold War, such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), was very successful. "We had a very good experience of economic cooperation in Asia, based on which we can rebuild a common Asian security framework," Liu said.

Liu also said the world is in an era of great division and faces the gravest risks since the end of World War II. The Ukraine crisis has lasted for more than a year, bringing severe hardship to the Ukrainian people, and the humanitarian crisis is still intensifying.

"Maybe now is the time to reflect on the direction of the Ukraine crisis seriously and calmly," he said, calling for a ceasefire of Russia-Ukraine military operations, followed by discussions on how to achieve a resolution of the crisis. "There are concerns about how difficult it is to talk about ending a crisis. But throughout history, many crises have been resolved by starting with a ceasefire," he said.

(Compiled by Du Ying)