June 3rd 2002
The Asia Security Conference worked because it neither tried to paper over cracks nor to be abrasive, says chairman of organising body
By Chua Lee Hoong
Defence ministers from Asia, Europe and America who congregated in Singapore over the weekend have found the gathering so useful that they have decided to do it again next year.
Same time, same place - in late May, at the Shangri-La Hotel.
Professor Francois Heisbourg, chairman of the council of the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, which organised the event, told reporters yesterday that the Asia Security Conference proved useful because it "sought neither to paper over cracks, onr to be abrasive or sensationalist".
"It wasn't simply a polite discussion. There was informed public debate and it contributed to increased understanding," he said at the end of the three-day conference.
He highlighted Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's opening speech on Friday night which, he said, should be read by all Europeans because it dealt with terrorism "in a way that's neither provincial or unrealistic".
SM Lee had called on the United States and other countries to cooperate more closely to support non-militant Muslims in a common fight against militants out to impose their version of the religion on the world.
Professor Heisbourg also cited Saturday's closed-door session on managing the terrorist threat in Southeast Asia, during which defence ministers from the region spoke openly about the constraints they faced.
A Singapore official noted that the defence ministers liked the fact that they could exchange views frankly without being under pressure to come up with joint statements or communiques.
"We are glad the conference went so well," she said.
Singapore, while not the organiser of the conference, provided the security for the event.
Conference organisers are modelling the so-called "Shangri-La Dialogue" after the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, which was started in 1962 by German publisher Ewald von Kleist.
He handed over chairmanship of the conference to Mr Horst Teltschik, the foreign and security policy adviser to former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, in 1998.
The Munich conference has been dubbed the "Davos of security" - a reference to the prestigious gathering of top business and political leaders in the Swiss resort town every January.
Analysts say the "Shangri-La Dialogue" will complement the Asean Regional Forum (ARF), the Asia-Pacific region's main umbrella security grouping.
Established in 1994, the ARF includes the Asean states, as well as Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
The Japanese Minister of State for Defence and head of the Japan Defence Agency, Mr Gen Nakatani, yesterday criticised the 23-member ARF as too restrictive for members to take a pro-active approach towards threats facing the region.
"ARF still remains a place for dialogues, and the role of the defence authorities has been limited," he said.
The annual ARF meetings involve foreign ministers and not defence officials.
He proposed an Asia-Pacific Defence Ministerial Meeting that could be used for a more focused and intensive security dialogue that would lead to a more concrete security cooperation.
