Speech by Senior Minister of State Mr Heng Chee How at the Seoul Defense Dialogue, Plenary 2 on "Toward a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific" on 18 Oct 2023

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure for me to be here today, participating on this panel with distinguished speakers as well as the esteemed audience. I would like to thank the Republic of Korea (ROK) Ministry of National Defense for your warm hospitality and for inviting Singapore to share our views at this plenary session.

ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Region

First, I have observed that I am the only ASEAN speaker across the three plenary sessions, so perhaps allow me to begin by sharing about ASEAN. This year's Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) theme is "Cooperation and Solidarity for Freedom, Peace, and Prosperity" and I would like to remind all of us here that there is a particularly close nexus with the aims of ASEAN. It would certainly strike a chord with our ASEAN friends. When ASEAN was formed in 1967, the five founding members shared a vision, which I quote was, "to bind the Southeast Asian nations together… and secure for their peoples… the blessings of peace, freedom, and prosperity". These values, goals, and principles are universal. They endure time and test, and are there for the benefit of the people. You can find great alignment between the aims of the ROK and this conference, as well as the aims of ASEAN.

Over the decades, ASEAN has progressively overcome many of our challenges against a backdrop of a troubled and unstable Southeast Asia. But this does not mean that the way in which ASEAN has operated is perfect, or that progress will always happen at the pace we wish for. As with any multinational organisation, ASEAN has its fair share of issues to contend with. But today, Southeast Asia is a region that is free, in general, from war. That is an achievement that we would not take for granted. Economically, ASEAN is now also, as a bloc, the world's fifth-largest economy, and on track to becoming the fourth by the end of this decade. So I think it is fair to say that ASEAN has, so far at least, delivered on its early ambitions of securing peace, freedom, and prosperity, in large part, for its people.

But the question is how do we keep this going, especially in the midst of the realities of geopolitics today, whether they be specific examples in Europe, Middle East or elsewhere. For this, we need to address the growing geopolitical and economic uncertainty that disrupts the stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific. In 2019, ASEAN adopted the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), which underscores the importance of ASEAN centrality and omni-directional, inclusive cooperation between ASEAN and its partners. It is heartening that the AOIP is commonly used as a key point of reference in extra-regional countries' strategy documents for engagements with the region. I believe that with the right pre-conditions in place, we can continue regionally, internationally to better our chances at securing peace, freedom, and prosperity. I note from the plenary session this morning as well as from distinguished speakers before me that everybody likes the number three, so they always have three points to make. So I too will attempt to highlight three points.

Singapore's Perspectives on the Way Forward

First, it is important for ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region to remain open and inclusive for all who have a legitimate stake and interest in our region. Second, to maintain, sustain and create more mechanisms, platforms and arrangements for cooperation – real, substantive, practical cooperation that will lead to outcomes and results that are win-win, that will benefit and therefore motivate the right behaviours. Third, the importance of keeping communication lines open because you can never ever finish understanding one another.

Promoting An Open and Inclusive Region

So I return now to the first point which is to keep ASEAN and the Asia Pacific open and inclusive. This is a key point. Southeast Asia today benefits from an open and inclusive security infrastructure, anchored on ASEAN centrality, but with an overlapping circle of friends, promoting a dense and interconnected web of cooperation.

We should cherish and protect this fabric of the security infrastructure while taking note of the current geopolitical tensions. This makes the task more challenging but it also makes the goal more critical than ever before. One key point in how we would envisage this is that ASEAN simply cannot afford to choose sides, and then as a result of trying to choose sides, have our regional security architecture splinter into exclusive blocs. The US has a longstanding presence in the region since the end of World War II, and the region has grown and prospered on the back of the security umbrella provided by the US, as well as the open global trading system that they built. Look at China – China is easily the largest trading partner of ASEAN and almost every ASEAN country. With China being part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in Asia, China will no doubt continue to play a pivotal role in the growth of this region for the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is important for us to envisage how the different interests, be it China, be it US and be it Europe – as they pay attention to this region and have legitimate stakes in this region, and as they enter the region – how that infrastructure can allow everybody to come together and cooperate in a way that would serve everybody's purpose without undermining stability.

Strengthening Practical Cooperation

Second, I would like to speak on strengthening practical cooperation. It takes time and patience to build mutual trust and understanding. We should constantly seek opportunities and platforms to allow us to work together, both with like-minded partners, but also with those whose opinions we may not always agree with and that also relates to my third point.

In this regard I want to cite an example and that is, among ASEAN, in the defence domain, there is a key platform called the ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting (ADMM). There is an extended platform, which is the ADMM-Plus, which also includes our partners from the region and further afield. It is important not just because it offers a platform for strategic dialogue, but it offers a chance for practical cooperation. Over the years, the ADMM-Plus, the different partners working with one another in Experts' Working Groups, for example, have devised particular arrangements, and attracted and convinced the participation of ADMM and ADMM-Plus countries, to endorse and to practice. This has certainly helped to add to the stability. One example would be the Experts' Working Group that ROK co-chaired with Singapore which led to very concrete achievements in the area of managing unplanned encounters at sea , so that we do not misread and have mishaps.

Enhancing Dialogue

That leads me to the third point which is to keep dialogue open. Institutionalised platforms like the Seoul Defense Dialogue and Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore are examples. There are many others, where as individual countries we do our part but we also try to bring together the fraternity of countries in the region and throughout the world. In order to discuss areas of critical importance, of mutual interest and to see, and better understand where the core common interests lie, so that we do not inadvertently subvert it in the haste to pursue our individual interests.

Of course, academics and think-tanks also add to the richness of the dialogue. I want to thank you once again for allowing me to participate in this and I look forward to the exchange.

More Resources

Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Heng Chee How Attends Seoul Defense Dialogue