Gay Loong Um Jai See ah? He want PRC to activate their 5th column in SIngapore and invade us?
Singapore Prime Minister Encourages U.S. Role in Asia
Lee Hsien Loong says U.S. forces ‘a key factor for peace and stability in the region’
SINGAPORE—Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the case for a sustained U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region on Friday, saying American forces were “a key factor for peace and stability in the region.”
With tensions rising in Asia over Chinese efforts to build a series of artificial islands in the South China Sea, Mr. Lee said the U.S. plays a “benign role” in Asia, and only involved itself in regional affairs with the aim of promoting Asia-Pacific stability.
His words, at the opening of an annual security summit in Singapore, amounted to a small public relations victory for the U.S. at a time when Beijing is seeking to cast Washington as a divisive force in the region. Although Singapore has long maintained close ties with Washington, like many countries in the area it also relies heavily on commercial ties to China, and generally seeks to avoid taking sides in conflicts between the two larger powers.
Mr. Lee’s speech opened the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is attended by senior military officials from across the U.S. and Asia, including China. The event has taken on more importance than usual because of the deepening dispute over the South China Sea islands, which are in areas also claimed by countries including the Philippines and Vietnam that want to see an expanded U.S. military presence.
China criticized “external countries…busy meddling in South China Sea affairs”—an apparent reference to the U.S.—in a newly-released white paper, and has warned rival claimants against “provocative actions” in waters which China claims as sovereign territory.
The U.S. has said it will stand up for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in Hawaii earlier this week that “the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world,” and would defy any Chinese orders to stay out of certain areas of the disputed South China Sea.
On Friday, U.S. officials revealed that American surveillance had discovered artillery on one of the islands which China is constructing, further raising the stakes at this weekend’s summit.
Mr. Carter addresses the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday. Although he is expected to continue taking a tough line toward China’s island-building, Washington also faces limits in what it can do to slow China’s expansion. Much of its military is committed to the Middle East, and any further ramp-up of military assets in Asia could risk triggering a more serious confrontation with Beijing.
Singapore has permitted the U.S. Navy to station littoral combat ships there. Four U.S. Navy ships will be deployed to Singapore on a rotational basis by the end of 2017, Navy officials announced earlier this year.
Reflecting on Singapore’s extraordinary development in its 50th year since independence, Mr. Lee again credited the influence of the U.S. military. “We’ve benefited from a benign region, from the American presence in Asia,” he said.
But he refrained from directly criticizing China’s activities. “So far China’s rise has been peaceful, within the international order,” Mr. Lee said. “The key to this peaceful rise continuing is the U.S.-China relationship.”
Still, Mr. Lee expressed concern that “South China Sea claimant states are taking unilateral actions,” including “reclaiming land, and setting up outposts.”
He said the region’s smaller states were wary of the growing rivalry between the Asia-Pacific’s two biggest powers. “No country wants to choose sides between the U.S. and China,” he said.
He urged China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations—four of whose 10 members, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, claim parts of the South China Sea—to negotiate a code of conduct governing behavior in disputed areas as soon as possible to help defuse the region’s rising tensions. However, efforts to negotiate such a code over several past years have largely gone nowhere.
Singapore Prime Minister Encourages U.S. Role in Asia
Lee Hsien Loong says U.S. forces ‘a key factor for peace and stability in the region’
SINGAPORE—Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the case for a sustained U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region on Friday, saying American forces were “a key factor for peace and stability in the region.”
With tensions rising in Asia over Chinese efforts to build a series of artificial islands in the South China Sea, Mr. Lee said the U.S. plays a “benign role” in Asia, and only involved itself in regional affairs with the aim of promoting Asia-Pacific stability.
His words, at the opening of an annual security summit in Singapore, amounted to a small public relations victory for the U.S. at a time when Beijing is seeking to cast Washington as a divisive force in the region. Although Singapore has long maintained close ties with Washington, like many countries in the area it also relies heavily on commercial ties to China, and generally seeks to avoid taking sides in conflicts between the two larger powers.
Mr. Lee’s speech opened the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is attended by senior military officials from across the U.S. and Asia, including China. The event has taken on more importance than usual because of the deepening dispute over the South China Sea islands, which are in areas also claimed by countries including the Philippines and Vietnam that want to see an expanded U.S. military presence.
China criticized “external countries…busy meddling in South China Sea affairs”—an apparent reference to the U.S.—in a newly-released white paper, and has warned rival claimants against “provocative actions” in waters which China claims as sovereign territory.
The U.S. has said it will stand up for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in Hawaii earlier this week that “the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world,” and would defy any Chinese orders to stay out of certain areas of the disputed South China Sea.
On Friday, U.S. officials revealed that American surveillance had discovered artillery on one of the islands which China is constructing, further raising the stakes at this weekend’s summit.
Mr. Carter addresses the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday. Although he is expected to continue taking a tough line toward China’s island-building, Washington also faces limits in what it can do to slow China’s expansion. Much of its military is committed to the Middle East, and any further ramp-up of military assets in Asia could risk triggering a more serious confrontation with Beijing.
Singapore has permitted the U.S. Navy to station littoral combat ships there. Four U.S. Navy ships will be deployed to Singapore on a rotational basis by the end of 2017, Navy officials announced earlier this year.
Reflecting on Singapore’s extraordinary development in its 50th year since independence, Mr. Lee again credited the influence of the U.S. military. “We’ve benefited from a benign region, from the American presence in Asia,” he said.
But he refrained from directly criticizing China’s activities. “So far China’s rise has been peaceful, within the international order,” Mr. Lee said. “The key to this peaceful rise continuing is the U.S.-China relationship.”
Still, Mr. Lee expressed concern that “South China Sea claimant states are taking unilateral actions,” including “reclaiming land, and setting up outposts.”
He said the region’s smaller states were wary of the growing rivalry between the Asia-Pacific’s two biggest powers. “No country wants to choose sides between the U.S. and China,” he said.
He urged China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations—four of whose 10 members, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, claim parts of the South China Sea—to negotiate a code of conduct governing behavior in disputed areas as soon as possible to help defuse the region’s rising tensions. However, efforts to negotiate such a code over several past years have largely gone nowhere.
