Transcript of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean's Door-Stop Interview at 8th Shangri-La Dialogue

DPM/Minister: This year, once again, the Shangri-La Dialogue is very well attended. There are 27 countries represented, with 23 countries coming at ministerial level, or ministerial level representatives. We've just had a very good lunch where we discussed a number of issues. And the discussion at lunch focused really on listening to the views of the various ministers, on the security architecture of the region. And I would say that at the end of the lunch, a few key ideas came together. The ministers agreed that the architecture has got to be open, flexible and inclusive. They also agreed that ASEAN had a special and important role to play, because it could bring together all the countries in the different sub-regions in the Asia-Pacific region. ASEAN is geographically located at the centre of the region. It is also a honest broker, and ASEAN might be a good fulcrum for bringing together all the different countries in the different sub-regions in the Asia-Pacific. So that was basically what we discussed at lunch.

S Ramesh (CNA): DPM, do you think it is timely for a Shangri-La Dialogue statement on North Korea's actions?DPM/Minister: That is something for each of the countries who attend to decide on. It's not the norm for the Shangri-La Dialogue to come up with a statement because it is not a formal meeting in itself. But I think if you listen to the presentations of the individual ministers and if you listen to the comments coming from the floor, you can get a sense of what the conference feels.

Ng Chun Kiat (Asahi Shimbun): Minister, I'd like to ask, what did you all talk about during the lunch, about North Korea and what did China and US basically say during lunch about this issue?DPM/Minister: Well, we did not have very much time to discuss North Korea, but it's quite clear that the discussions at the open sessions, that the countries gathered here view what has happened in North Korea not positively. All of us are talking about peace and stability and cooperation, and in a way, North Korea stands out from this pack, because they are doing something which is actually disturbing the peace and stability of our region. So I would say that all the countries gathered here would want to see a non-nuclear Korea, and all the countries also express concern about the nuclear proliferation, and they would not want to see that happen.

Alex Kennedy (Associated Press): What's Singapore's response to reports today that North Korea is planning to launch or test a long range ballistic missile?DPM/Minister: I've not seen those reports myself, so I won't be able to comment on that.

William Choong (Straits Times): It seems that Kevin Rudd, in his keynote, was very clear about the Asia-Pacific community being inclusive and including the US, and it seems as though that's quite different from what members of ASEAN are actually proposing, which is that ASEAN plays a central role and remains the fulcrum of any parts of the security architecture. So how do you gel these two somewhat differing viewpoints together?DPM/Minister: Prime Minister Rudd explained his concept of the Asia Pacific Community, and I think that as we have further discussions, my belief is that we will have a convergence of views. Certainly, at today's lunch there seemed to be a fairly prevalent view that ASEAN actually has a key role to play, being at the centre of the region and playing a sort of fulcrum role to bring together all the countries and the sub-regions in the Asia-Pacific, into the Asia-Pacific Community or Asia-Pacific security community.

Nopporn Wong-Anan (Reuters): Does this mean that ASEAN would like to sidestep the idea of this APC, over more attractive privileges under ASEAN's expansion?DPM/Minister: I think the APC is something which is still a work in progress, it is a matter for discussion still, and Prime Minister Rudd has suggested a track 1.5 or track 2 discussion on the matter. So I think it's probably best to let that discussion take place, rather than to pre-judge what will happen.

Nopporn Wong-Anan (Reuters): One more question on Pakistan. When US Secretary Gates today called for Asia and Europe to be more pro-active in helping restructuring Pakistan and Afghanistan...DPM/Minister: To restructure Pakistan?Nopporn Wong-Anan (Reuters): To help rehabilitate, to help Pakistan and Afghanistan rebuild their country. What would be the Singapore role's in helping to do that?DPM/Minister: Well, Singapore has been active in Afghanistan, contributing in the ways that we're able to, in the stabilistation and reconstruction of Afghanistan. As you know, we have deployments together with the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan province, as well as some deployments with the Dutch and Australian Provincial Reconstruction Team in Oruzgan province. In Bamiyan, we have deployed a dental team, we've also deployed construction engineers, in fact our construction engineers are there now, small team of 6 men doing some construction projects. And our medical team deployed for 6 months in Oruzgan province, has just come back from Oruzgan.

Ng Chun Kiat (Asahi Shimbun): Minister, could I ask just one last question? Were there any ideas floated in the lunch for calls to resolve the North Korean crisis for example through 6 party talks or UN security councils?DPM/Minister: I think I've already commented on that, so I have no more to add to that.