A stronger Asean will bring greater stability, opportunities for S’pore: PM Lee
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivers his speech after the transfer of ASEAN Chairmanship at the closing ceremonies of the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Manila, Philippines Nov 14, 2017. Photo: Reuters
MANILA — Singaporeans will enjoy greater stability and benefit from a more prosperous South-east Asia if the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) can strengthen regional cooperation and become more effective under the Republic’s chairmanship next year, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday (Nov 14) - the final day of his visit to Manila to attend the Asean Summit - Mr Lee underlined the importance of Asean to Singapore.
“We should be positive about this because Asean is important to us,” he said in response to a question on why Singaporeans should be optimistic about Asean and Singapore chairing it.
“Asean is a lifeboat for all 10 countries in Southeast Asia, to come together, to work together, to have our voice heard on the world stage and to be able to manage our own issues among ourselves, and to cooperate to improve the lives of our people in South-east Asia.”
On Tuesday evening, Mr Lee accepted a symbolic gavel from President Rodrigo Duterte as the Philippines handed over the rotating chairmanship in a ceremony at the close of the summit.
At the closing ceremony, Mr Lee said that Singapore’s chairmanship, which starts officially in January, will focus on the themes of “resilience” and “innovation”.
This includes tapping new ways to manage and mine digital technologies, pushing ahead with regional economic integration as well as promoting and upholding the regional order to better deal with emerging security challenges such as terrorism and cyber security.
“These are issues which confront all of us and if we can deal with them, we can make Asean a more effective and more valuable organisation,” he said in his interview with the press.
“If we can, during our chairmanship, through these tangible, useful ideas, make Asean more effective, strengthen our co-operation with our neighbours, I think it means for Singapore a stabler world to live in, a safer South-east Asia in which we can operate, a more prosperous region in which we can grow our economy (and) expand our markets (and) seize opportunities which will be there.”
On the South China Sea, Mr Lee revealed that the negotiations on a code of conduct for the strategic waterway are expected to begin early next year.
Earlier this week, Asean announced that the grouping and China were set to kick off negotiations on the code of conduct.
Mr Lee, who spoke on behalf of Asean at the Asean-China Summit as Singapore is the Asean-China dialogue relations coordinator, had said the grouping looked forward to the code’s “early conclusion”.
China lays claim to much of the strategic waterway. Its claims have been contested by several neighbouring countries, including Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, though tensions have eased somewhat lately.
On Tuesday, Mr Lee also met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Asean Summit. Mr Lee told reporters that Mr Modi has agreed to speak at the yearly Shangri-La Dialogue security forum next year.
“I hope he will be able also to make a bilateral visit to Singapore … before or after the Shangri-La Dialogue. And we’ll be able to have a programme for him, which will enhance our already very considerable relationship with India, and perhaps expand our mindshare in India,” said Mr Lee.
On managing the relationship between Asean member-states and China and the US, Mr Lee said both superpowers want to deepen co-operation with Asean, but in different ways.
“I think we can work with both of them.”
The Asean Summit and related meetings, which were attended by both US President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, showed that not only does Asean value relations with the two superpowers; the US and China are also “paying attention to their relationships with Asean”, said Mr Lee.
He was responding to a question from TODAY on how Singapore, as next year’s Asean chair, can prevent member-states from being made to take sides if ties between China and the US fray.
“We cannot prevent member-states to do one thing or another,” Mr Lee added.
“What we can do is to try to have Asean, as a group, enhance its co-operation with China and also enhance its co-operation with the US.”
In an interview with the business news channel CNBC last month, Mr Lee had flagged concerns about having to pick sides when there are tensions between the US and China.
“If there are tensions between America and China, we will be asked to pick a side. It may not be directly, but you will get the message that ‘we would like you to be with us, and are you with us? If not, does that mean you’re against us?’ And that’s to put it gently,” he had said.
“We hope not to have to pick sides.”
Mr Lee, who arrived in Manila on Sunday, returns to Singapore on Wednesday.
