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Tackling terrorism and ensuring a global security landscape is not just about taking care of the physical aspects.
It also depends on how countries remain interdependent on each other.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made this assessment when he delivered his keynote address on Friday at this year's Shangri-la Dialogue.
Mr Lee also noted that ASEAN has a central role to play in this.
His message: continue to promote free trade and keep an open trading environment.
Mr Lee says with a more globalised world, nations, more than ever, need to cooperate with each other.
With a greater stake in each other, countries have more reasons to ensure growth and prosperity.
Mr Lee also believes ASEAN can contribute to global stability.
The grouping, he noted, has been promoting economic cooperation, which leads to a more stable region.
PM Lee said: "Economic frictions and obstacles to trade and investment weaken countries' stakes in one another, and their incentive to uphold the global order. The more we restrict the flow of trade and investments, the more likely that we will have rivalry and tensions, rather than shared interests in one another.
"The challenge is to find the right balance - we cannot ignore security considerations; but if countries override the rules citing security too often, even when it is not involved, we will weaken the international system, and make ourselves less rather than more secure." - CNA/ch
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