S'PORE, THAILAND BOOST DEFENCE TIES

No one country has adequate resources to combat transnational threats such as terrorism, piracy and natural disasters. This was pointed out by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen during his visit to Thailand from 16 to 17 Nov.

He emphasised that "because you cannot build trust and interoperability overnight", it was important for regional militaries to continue having exercises, dialogues and exchanges in bilateral as well as multilateral settings.

Recent incidents such as the terror attacks in Paris and Lebanon "give us an impetus to continue to build that trust with each other, so that commanders can understand each other and call on each other when they need to", he said.

During his visit to Thailand, Dr Ng met Thai Prime Minister General (GEN) Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence GEN Prawit Wongsuwon. The leaders reaffirmed the close, long-standing military ties between both countries, and discussed defence initiatives including enhancing joint military exercises between both militaries.

"There is common ground. We recognise that there can be shared resources; we talked about more collaboration, more military-to-military training. These things do not grab headlines, but it is vital to just doggedly keep on building this relationship," said Dr Ng.

Both armed forces interact regularly through numerous bilateral and multilateral exercises such as Singsiam, Cope Tiger and Cobra Gold.

The ministers also spoke about regional challenges such as terrorism and escalating tensions in the South China Sea. Noting the need to continue finding consensus and common ground, Dr Ng emphasised that the Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) was a "step in the right direction (but) should be extended to include non-military shipping (as well as) the air domain to avoid incidents between military aircraft ".

As part of his two-day trip, Dr Ng interacted with newly appointed military leaders Thai Chief of Defence Forces GEN Sommai Kaotira, Thai Permanent Secretary for Defence GEN Preecha Jan-o-cha, Royal Thai Army Commander-in-Chief GEN Teerachai Nakwanich and Royal Thai Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Na Areenich. Thai Deputy Minister for Defence GEN Udomdej Sitabutr and Royal Thai Air Force Commander-in-Chief Air Chief Marshal Treetod Sonjance were present at the meetings.

He also visited the Royal Thai Air Force Headquarters in Don Muang and the Royal Thai Army 21st Infantry Regiment in Chonburi.