Singapore To Work More Closely with South Korea on Maritime Security

Producer: Bharati Jagdish
First broadcast: 15 June 04, Radio Singapore International

Singapore's Co-ordinating Minister for Defence and Security, Dr Tony Tan, has said that Singapore wants to work more closely with South Korea to keep the regional waterways safe.

Dr Tan, who is also Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister, is on visit to South Korea and has had a series of talks with South Korean defence chiefs about stepping up bilateral maritime exercises.

He warned that pirate attacks in the region are getting more sophisticated and pointed out many countries have a vested interest in maritime security in regional waterways like the Straits of Malacca.

Apart from the littoral states, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, other countries should get involved in ensuring security along the waterway.

South Korea, which is also very concerned, has said it is willing to take part in talks to resolve the issue.

For more on this, Bharati Jagdish (BJ) spoke to Dr Andrew Tan (AT) from the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore.

AT: "Almost half the world's oil actually passes through the Straits of Malacca and they go to the booming economies of Northeast Asia. Northeast Asia as a whole has a Gross National Product which is four times that of Southeast Asia and it is a very dynamic part of the world. For that reason, given the continuing economic growth of countries like China, South Korea and Japan, their dependence on Middle East oil has increased and it is for that reason that various suggestions or requests have been made by the Americans that South Korea and Japan provide troops for Iraq, for example."

BJ: Dr Tan has talked about stepping up bilateral maritime exercises with South Korea and deepening cooperation. How do you expect these exercises and interactions to be configured?

AT: "South Korea and Singapore don't have many bilateral exercises together. In fact, the kind of cooperation that they've had so far has been under multilateral structures and exercises that are coordinated by the Americans in terms of Pacific-wide training and other types of exercises. The South Koreans have a lot to offer, given that they have very good conventional military capabilities and quite a strong navy. The South Koreans could help in terms of training exercises, in conducting joint patrols and capacity-building in helping littoral states along the Straits of Malacca to improve their capacity to deal with the terrorist threat and also to improve maritime security in this part of the world."

BJ: Besides helping with capacity-building, you mentioned joint patrols. Joint patrols have been a sensitive issue for some of the littoral states when it comes to US involvement in such exercises in the Straits. Would this still be a sensitive issue if a country like South Korea is involved?

AT: "It is still a sensitive issue as such, but I think we need to take a step-by-step approach. The first step needs to be an investment in the national capacity of the littoral states in managing these security issues themselves. For that reason, for example, the Australians and the Americans have helped to fund and set up counter-terrorism training centres in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. It is these sorts of capacity-building exercises that will be very useful, at least at the beginning. Perhaps, further down the line, it might be possible to persuade the littoral states to accept joint patrols, perhaps not from the US, but from Japan or South Korea."

BJ: Do you think the littoral states will be more accepting of a South Korean role in maritime security in the Straits than they would be of an American role?

AT: "Whenever the United States is mentioned in this part of the world, there is a fair bit of unease due to political sensitivities among some of the littoral states. So clearly, given the sensitivities, it might well be wise for the United States to leave it to its alliance partners such as South Korea, Australia and Japan to take the lead in structuring a cooperative regime that would ensure the safety of the Straits of Malacca."

BJ: What about the involvement of other countries like Japan and China who have a stake in maritime security along the Straits as well? Do you see cooperation with these countries increasing as well?

AT: "Japan is certainly very interested given the huge dependence on oil and also on the foreign markets. That's one of the reasons the Japanese coast guards visit Singapore and also join the training exercises. So I think the Japanese can do a lot more in terms of building up the capacity of the littoral states. China is a somewhat more contentious issue given concerns in the region over an emerging China. So they may be some political sensitivities with regards to China."

BJ: Now, Dr Tan also highlighted that if need be, Singapore will increase defence spending. How do you expect this to pan out considering the global terror threat and concerns over maritime security?

AT: "The Singapore government has never shied away from spending enough on security. Defence spending has always been consistently sufficient since Singapore's independence to take care of possible contingencies that may arise. I think we will see the same determination carried through in this instance. If the assessment is that there is a need to improve maritime security capabilities then the funding will be made available, but not at the expense of other sectors such as homeland security or conventional defence."