"Greater military cooperation needed in globalised world: Ng Eng Hen - CNA 27 April 2016
SINGAPORE: Increasing interdependence among countries in today's globalised world calls for greater cooperation and collaboration between militaries, said Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Wednesday (Apr 27).
Speaking at the 5th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS), Dr Ng said globalisation has led to countries becoming "too interconnected" and the "price of conflict whenever they occur are too high for everyone potentially".
To tackle common and transnational security challenges, Dr Ng said "we must step up dialogue and practical cooperation". He cited the East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) as platforms that "allow countries from the Asia-Pacific and beyond to come together for dialogue and cooperation".
During the plenary session on "Security Challenges and Opportunities for International Military-to-Military Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific", Dr Ng shared that four ADMM-Plus exercises will be conducted this year.
"Through these exercises, our different armed forces learn more about each other, build trust and build new capabilities that we need to tackle the threats to our common prosperity," said Dr Ng.
Dr Ng also encouraged the establishment of a common set of air, sea and sub-sea norms, protocols and mechanisms among militaries to guide behaviour in the Asia-Pacific region, defuse tensions and reduce the miscalculations in view of the security challenges in the region, according to a MINDEF press release.
As part of his four-day Moscow trip, Dr Ng has so far attended an informal meeting of Southeast Asian and Russian Defence Ministers, as well as held his first bilateral meeting with Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, General Sergei Shoigu."
It is good to have Minister Dr Ng spoke at such an international forum promoting Singapore's brand of 'keeping good harmonious relationship militarily'.
Lessons for me are:
1. small nation like us MUST speak up whenever there are opportunities to do so and let other countries know in no uncertain terms what Singapore's stand is on certain issues. This much we MUST DO at every single opportunities;
2. deep friendship is build over frequent contacts and over a long period of time. We can do a high frequency contacts over a short time to hasten the friendship but it will still take time;
3. despite all the talks and the military cooperation, hopefully every nation can also be BOLD and DARING enough to reveal that 'in their contingency plan', each is VERY POWERFUL in terms of their military hardware and quality of their armed forces.
May Singapore lives in peaceful harmony with its neighbours for a long long time!
SINGAPORE: Increasing interdependence among countries in today's globalised world calls for greater cooperation and collaboration between militaries, said Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Wednesday (Apr 27).
Speaking at the 5th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS), Dr Ng said globalisation has led to countries becoming "too interconnected" and the "price of conflict whenever they occur are too high for everyone potentially".
To tackle common and transnational security challenges, Dr Ng said "we must step up dialogue and practical cooperation". He cited the East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) as platforms that "allow countries from the Asia-Pacific and beyond to come together for dialogue and cooperation".
During the plenary session on "Security Challenges and Opportunities for International Military-to-Military Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific", Dr Ng shared that four ADMM-Plus exercises will be conducted this year.
"Through these exercises, our different armed forces learn more about each other, build trust and build new capabilities that we need to tackle the threats to our common prosperity," said Dr Ng.
Dr Ng also encouraged the establishment of a common set of air, sea and sub-sea norms, protocols and mechanisms among militaries to guide behaviour in the Asia-Pacific region, defuse tensions and reduce the miscalculations in view of the security challenges in the region, according to a MINDEF press release.
As part of his four-day Moscow trip, Dr Ng has so far attended an informal meeting of Southeast Asian and Russian Defence Ministers, as well as held his first bilateral meeting with Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, General Sergei Shoigu."
It is good to have Minister Dr Ng spoke at such an international forum promoting Singapore's brand of 'keeping good harmonious relationship militarily'.
Lessons for me are:
1. small nation like us MUST speak up whenever there are opportunities to do so and let other countries know in no uncertain terms what Singapore's stand is on certain issues. This much we MUST DO at every single opportunities;
2. deep friendship is build over frequent contacts and over a long period of time. We can do a high frequency contacts over a short time to hasten the friendship but it will still take time;
3. despite all the talks and the military cooperation, hopefully every nation can also be BOLD and DARING enough to reveal that 'in their contingency plan', each is VERY POWERFUL in terms of their military hardware and quality of their armed forces.
May Singapore lives in peaceful harmony with its neighbours for a long long time!
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