Shangri-La Dialogue: Southeast Asian leaders ‘acutely concerned’ about US-China rivalry

Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen called for the two world powers to keep communication channels – both formal and informal – open

Southeast Asian leaders maintain they would not take sides amid the US-China rivalry as many depend on Beijing for trade and have security ties with Washington

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Singapore’s Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual high level defence summit in the Asia Pacific region. Photo: EPA-EFE

Dewey Simin SingaporeandSu-Lin Tanin Singapore

Published: 4:36pm, 4 Jun 2023Updated: 5:05pm, 4 Jun 2023

Southeast Asian leaders have urged Beijing and Washington to repair ties and called for communication between the two sides to resume, saying that the region was “acutely concerned” they would be forced to take sides if US-China relations worsened.

Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, speaking at a panel discussion at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday, called for the two powers to keep communication channels – both formal and informal – open.

Ties between the United States and China have deteriorated significantly, with most bilateral interactions halted after then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August.

Singapore’s Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen has called for called for communication between the US and China to resume. Photo: Reuters

The three-day security conference in Singapore had been touted as an opportunity for the defence leaders of both countries to meet and thaw frosty ties but China declined a request for a face-to-face meeting over Washington’s refusal to lift the sanctions on Chinese Defence Chief Li Shangfu.

Instead, both US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Li took veiled swipes at each other in their respective speeches over the weekend, with the latter saying that “some country” liked to force its rules on others.

Singapore’s Ng on Sunday stressed that the US-China relationship was “central” to the stability in Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region. “No country, I think, wants war but our working assumptions and scenarios must be that unplanned incidents can occur,” he said.

Channels of communication, both formal and informal, must exist so that when these unplanned incidents occur, those channels can be used to de-escalate and avoid conflict

Ng Eng Hen, Singapore Defence Minister

He cited a 2001 incident where a US spy plane and a Chinese aircraft collided near Hainan Island. More recently, there have been close encounters between American and Chinese naval vessels and fighter jets in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

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