Remarks by Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the 13th Munich Young Leaders Roundtable On "Charting a More Equitable Post-Pandemic Future"

Introduction

Thank you very much, Ms Alisa Vogt, and let me thank Ms Nora Muller and the organisation, the Kӧrber Foundation, for inviting me again for the ninth time. I've been impressed each time I meet the Munich Young Leaders, and the Kӧrber Foundation does a standout job in just really selecting the brightest young minds that I've ever seen. I'm not saying that just because you're here, but the diversity, the ability to just bring a group of young leaders who, I presume, with more than an even chance to be leaders of the coming years, so I benefit as much from listening to you, and over the years I've changed my modus operandi. I first started out with giving a full 10-minute lecture, keeping the zeitgeist known, tapping the potential in your views so it's leads to some discussion and then ask for your views. Let me also welcome all those who are Zooming in.

But let me start with this – it cannot be often that we meet in Munich, with more than 100,000 troops amassed across the borders in two adjacent countries. It's some 1,400 km away from here, but I think the consequences, all of us would agree is hugely disruptive, not only for Europe, but globally. I say it cannot be often, but historically the last time that we saw this type of troop movement in Europe – any guesses? After that, 1968, when approximately, some of you may remember, 250,000 troops of the Warsaw Pact gathered and subsequently moved into Czechoslovakia. There is some basis for the assessment that the situation in Ukraine now here, is Europe's greatest security crisis since the Cold War. And that must give us some sobering sentiments about what we need to emulate about.

I think most of us would agree that the crisis over Ukraine is a manifestation of a larger geopolitical contestation. And I won't go into details of what happened, many specialists have given their views. This incident in Ukraine reaffirms an old African dictum – and the African saying is this: "When elephants fight, the grass suffers". For completeness, I should also say, "when elephants make love, the grass suffers too". Who are the elephants today, in your region and mine? How do we prevent them from fighting or conducting their earth-shaking and damaging tryst either in our backyard or elsewhere? So I'll like to go around the regions, who are the elephants and how do you keep them off the grass.

There are of course also, non - or more accurately pan-geographic. Here, I am talking about, as you rightly pointed out, groups rather than issues. Different groups can be on opposite sides even if they are focused on the same issue. And who are these? Well, we have cancel culture activists, green groups and climate change activists, LGBTQ+ communities and their advocates, religious conservatives, hard-line nationalists, anti-federalist groups. Not so much sovereign states, they are actually non-state entities but they can galvanise forces. And these groups have vastly different views on what the regional and international order should look like and how to achieve their ideals.

Strengthening our International Institutions

If you look at post-World War II institutions, United Nations (UN), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), they were predicated on certain assumptions. But here now we are identifying forces, no less important and no less powerful, that can galvanise groups across geographic boundaries. So here is my question – an observation more than a question – existing mechanisms that we have now, and institutions like the UN, WTO and WHO are under siege.

What's happened post-World War II now, 70 to 80 years now, we see new institutions driven by different principal actors to bring coordinated action where older institutional frameworks in their mind, couldn't fix, couldn't get a consensus, so that they can address these pan-geographic issues. What are they? I'll name some: the G20, that's a new construct, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – those are economic. You have the Australia-UK-US Trilateral Security Pact (AUKUS), the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), you have different constructs – these are some examples of economic, trade and defence. So, what I would like to hear are your views, which institutions appeal to your generation and why? And which ones would you encourage – and how would you enhance the existing institutions?

When I ask these questions about what institutions should be preserved and what resonates – I'm not preaching anarchy obviously. Look at what's happening to Ukraine – there is a phrase in the Foreign Affairs circuit, which is if you're not on the table, you're on the menu. Somebody else decides your fate. But even as you take those views, and there's a response that the newer generation – they see what's happening, they look at new applications, they are so responsive and they meet the needs – now why can't world politics be like that? What I believe is honestly rather dependent on institutions – it goes back to the sentiments expressed in the Melian Dialogue – the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. It still exists.

The challenge I have for you is, I think you have to invest in the institution that you believe in. You have to build them up, recognise that leadership is essential. Now fights are greater than ever, but you still need enlightened leadership. And the questions I think we have to ask is whether institutions are up to the mark or not. Ultimately for every generation, you require a leadership, an enlightened leadership, and we certainly hope for this generation as well. You need to raise leaders who believe in what they're doing, just as we can talk post-World War II institutions, whether it's UN, WTO, WHO – they are not perfect, but you have to build institutions and there I agree. And that is why we are investing in this time to speak to one another, and ultimately it is about what you believe, what you believe can change, what you believe can be in effect, and who you do it for.

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Dr Ng Engages Young Leaders at 13th Munich Young Leaders Roundtable on Charting a More Equitable Post-Pandemic Future