The 14th Shangri-La Dialogue officially opens in Singapore
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| Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaks at the opening ceremony of the 14th Shangri La Dialogue. (Photo: Viet Hai-Le Hai-My Binh/Vietnam+) |
On the evening of May 29, the 14th Asia Security Summit (also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue) opened in Singapore with the participation of senior defense officials from 26 Asia-Pacific countries, along with many leading scholars in the region.
The high-ranking Vietnamese military delegation was led by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Minister of National Defense.
In his opening speech at the forum, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned three major topics: the balance of power among regional powers, regional cooperation mechanisms and the issue of terrorism.
According to Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, the strategic balance in Asia is changing and the US-China relationship is the key to China's peaceful rise within the framework of the international order.
Mr. Lee Hsien Loong emphasized that all Asian countries want the US-China relationship to be positive. According to him, competition between major powers is inevitable, but the problem is what form the competition takes, whether it brings benefits to all parties or risks leading to a bad scenario.
The Singaporean Prime Minister also stressed the importance of freedom of navigation in the important shipping lanes passing through the South China Sea, warning that continued tensions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea would have negative consequences. He called on China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to push for the signing of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) as soon as possible to break the current vicious cycle and prevent disputes from damaging the larger relationship.
Mr. Lee Hsien Loong affirmed that the best outcome is to comply with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to him, in the long term, a stable regional order cannot be maintained by a single superpower, but requires consensus and recognition from the international community.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also mentioned the current humanitarian crisis facing the Rohingya and Bangladesh. According to him, the solution to this problem requires decisive action by countries to combat human trafficking.
Besides, the Singaporean Prime Minister also emphasized the threat from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group and extremist organizations to regional stability and security, and said that Singapore is very concerned about this issue.
The Singaporean prime minister also expressed hope that in the future, the US, China and Japan will continue to be the major powers in the region, while India will have a larger role. However, the Asia-Pacific region will not be a place where "might is always right and can do whatever it wants," but "a world where the rule of law and constructive engagement will be the international norm, and all countries, big and small, can compete peacefully for the opportunity to prosper."
The 14th Shangri-La Dialogue took place from May 29-31 with six discussion sessions on the following topics: The US and security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region; Methods of security cooperation in Asia; Preventing conflict escalation; China's role in maintaining security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region; Strengthening the Asia-Pacific regional order; Towards positive conflict resolution; Global and Asia-Pacific security challenges.
Since 2002, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) - one of the world's leading strategic research organizations - has annually organized the Asia Security Summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. This is the main forum for defense ministers, senior defense and military officials of countries in the Asia-Pacific region and some other countries to discuss the most important current issues related to regional security./.
According to Vietnam+
