Bilahari Kausikan dismisses claims he is an ‘agent’, after hinting Asean should expel Cambodia, Laos over Chinese influence

A Singaporean former diplomat who sparked a diplomatic storm by suggesting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations expel Cambodia and Laos – following criticisms of their pro-Beijing stances on the South China Sea and Chinese dams on the Mekong – has mocked accusations he is working as an “agent” of a foreign power.

Bilahari Kausikan, a former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore, caused controversy when he said last week the two Mekong nations were “teetering precariously” towards ceding influence to an outside power.

While he did not make explicit who this outside power was, the comment followed remarks from Bilahari about Asean’s failure in 2012 to agree a joint communique on how to deal with Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea. At the time Cambodia was widely seen as blocking an agreement in deference to China.

“This betrayed Cambodia’s lack of understanding of how Asean works,” the outspoken former Singapore official said at a round table discussion organised by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, though he acknowledged that the 10 member bloc did eventually reach a consensus on the matter.

He also said Cambodia and Laos “must care” about control of the Mekong River – where China has been accused of causing droughts with upriver dams – because it was an “existential issue” that directly affected their people’s livelihood. Bilahari had previously called for Asean nations to address their concerns with Beijing collectively.