Speech by Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, at Sixth Xiangshan Forum

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me thank Admiral Sun Jianguo and Lieutenant-General Gao Jin, and the respective organisations, the China Association for Military Science and China International Institute for Strategic Studies, for this invitation and warm hospitality received at the Xiangshan Forum. Let me congratulate the organisers for a very well-organised and meaningful forum. In addition, I wish to congratulate the People's Liberation Army on its successful conduct of the military parade last month to mark the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II.

Growing Interdependence

In the aftermath of the end of World War II and the ensuing Cold War, global interdependence reached levels not seen in human history. Powered by connectivity in the real world through air, sea and land routes and on the internet, cross-border flows of trade, investment, capital, and people reached unprecedented levels.

For Asia, with the world's largest two countries - China and India - the effect was a tectonic shift on both these countries as much as it impacted the rest of the World. Trade with Asia and within Asia rose and kept economies here buoyant in the last decade compared to Europe or the Americas. Global trade patterns changed with increased flows to Asia. Today, about 60 to 70 percent of the over US$400 billion in foreign investment flowing into Asian countries comes from other Asian countries. More than half of China's exports are produced by parent companies in Japan, South Korea and even Singapore.

However, economic integration does not exist and cannot progress without stability and security. Stable and inclusive geopolitics and regional security are necessary pre-conditions for trade and investments. As in the economic sphere, mutual cooperation and collaboration based on a clear set of rules that are inclusive and fair are needed to establish regional stability.

In this context, militaries must increasingly be open and co-operate. Many of the security challenges we face, as my distinguished colleagues in the other Defence Ministries have spoken before me, are transnational in nature and cannot be tackled effectively by any one country, no matter how large. Cyber-crime, terrorism, piracy, or natural disasters cross borders. Much has been spoken about jihadi extremists, and these jihadi extremists in the Middle East want to eradicate national boundaries there altogether, and groups like ISIS have attracted the allegiance and loyalty of men and women from many countries. I think there are very few countries represented this year that do not have foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, and who are coming back to our home countries. We are all worried about this. In fact, foreign fighters from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have pledged to form a similar Islamic caliphate in our part of the world.

Stability and Shared Interests

Effective cooperation on security issues with other countries and nationalistic sentiments are not mutually exclusive. Neither should we let disputes on territories or resources obstruct our goal to build a stable and inclusive security architecture. The stakes are too high, if we should fail to create a stable security environment that is conducive for future progress and prosperity.

These sentiments were articulated by President Xi Jinping in a speech in Seattle, where he said, and I quote, that "China is ready to work with other countries to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core, replacing confrontation and domination with win-win cooperation, and adopting a new thinking of building partnerships, so as to jointly open up a new vista of common development and shared security."

Soon after that speech, China and the US concluded annexes on air-to-air safety and crisis communications, building on the Confidence Building Measures developed between both countries a year ago. In Asia, we will need more of these initiatives and Singapore supports China's leadership to promote stability and security in Asia.

Ladies and gentlemen, again, thank you for inviting us, Singapore, to this forum. I look forward to a robust exchange of views and I am confident that this year's forum will further enrich our collective engagement and dialogue on regional security issues. Thank you.

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