STRONGER SECURITY FRAMEWORKS, GREATER PRACTICAL COOPERATION NEEDED

Asia has to strengthen multilateral security frameworks and step up practical cooperation to prevent and mitigate conflicts among countries, said Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at the 13th Shangri-La Dialogue on 1 Jun.

Dr Ng was speaking at the Fifth Plenary, which marked the close of the Dialogue, together with French Minister for Defence and Veterans Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian. In his speech, Dr Ng noted that the recent territorial and maritime disputes in the South and East China Seas are the results of conflicting interests of individual countries.

For instance, China does not want a repeat of the "century of humiliation and unequal treaties" that occurred in the 19th century, while ASEAN countries never again want to be colonised and exploited.

Furthermore, Dr Ng noted that unlike in Europe, there was no binding aversion to regional conflict here.

"Asia does not have the equivalent of the 'never again' resolve that bound all of Europe after two world wars, and that translated into political will to create formal structures and alliances to avoid war," he said.

"The political challenge before us is to ensure that these circles of aspirations and ambitions of individual countries intersect as widely as possible Asia must therefore build more resilient mechanisms to forge consensus and political will, and here I agree with my colleague Mr Le Drian, political will to prevent if not mitigate conflicts," he added.

Noting that there was a lack of strategic trust among Asian countries, Dr Ng said open and frank dialogues are needed before security challenges can be meaningfully addressed, and urged countries to build on multilateral frameworks to achieve this trust.

He cited the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and ADMM-Plus as examples of platforms to resolve differences peacefully, and to step up cooperation between militaries to forge trust.

"A key platform to achieve trust is concerted action to help one another in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR)," said Dr Ng, who noted the ADMM-Plus exercise in June 2013 hosted by Brunei saw 18 countries come together to conduct a large-scale HADR and Military Medicine exercise.

The ADMM-Plus militaries will do more, including the next joint ADMM-Plus Counter Terrorism and Maritime Security exercise, Dr Ng added.

He also noted that concerted action to help one another in HADR is a key platform to achieve trust. And he explained that this, the recent natural disasters that hit the region were the reasons Singapore offered to host a Regional HADR Coordination Centre.

In closing, Dr Ng said: "Crises and conflicts are unpredictable. But we can reduce that uncertainty by proactively building, among us, strong relations and multilateral frameworks that build trust and confidence through cooperation and consensus. A stronger and more stable Asia will benefit all our citizens and the world."

Earlier in the day, Dr Ng met Mr Le Drian and other officials from France, as well as officials from China on the sidelines of the Dialogue. He also hosted a ministerial luncheon after the closing of the Dialogue.