June 1st 2003
Defence chiefs engage in friendly but frank talks over a meal
By David Boey
AN INTERESTING mix of top defence personalities was arrayed round the lunch table yesterday with Dr Tony Tan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence.
They included ministers from countries who supported and those who opposed the United States-led war on Iraq, and countries directly affected by recent terrorists acts.
Defence ministers from opposite sides of the 1999 debate on Timor-Leste (formerly known as East Timor), including countries which sent troops to keep the peace on the island under a United Nations-backed mandate, also joined Dr Tan for a meal.
But rather than having a go at one another, the ministers discussed weighty global security issues in a friendly and forthright manner.
The lunch was attended by 15 ministers and deputy ministers with security-related portfolios from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Timor-Leste and the US. It was held as part of the Asia Security Conference.
The lunchtime setting represents one of the tools of defence diplomacy that allows defence officials to voice their views to Asia's security elite in a cosy and non-intimidating setting.
The perils of global terrorism and the usefulness of the UN process as a diplomatic tool were lunchtime talking points.
At a doorstop interview after the marathon three-hour working lunch, Dr Tan said his lunchtime companions voiced concern on 'how to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world' in the war against terrorism.
He said: 'This was a subject that was of interest to everyone at the lunch. The dangers posed by radical Islam motivating people to give up their lives, do suicide bombings to create havoc and destruction, is a matter of great worry to all the ministers.
'We agreed that this battle against terrorism is going to take many years and is going to be a long and sustained one. It's not going to be one or two quick victories, as US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said, but it will be sustained and will take many dimensions.'
Dr Tan added that the luncheon also discussed the role of the UN, especially after the Iraq war. 'We all agreed that one of the casualties of the run-up to the Iraq war was the UN process,' he said.
'Various ideas were discussed as to whether the UN in its present structure is still relevant to the security needs of the world, how it can be transformed and what are the prospects for its transformation.'
Dr Tan was also asked about recent media reports that the US is considering moving its troops from Japan to other Asian countries.
In response, he said: 'As regards to a military base, I think the fact of life is that Singapore is a very small place, so I'm not sure whether physically we can accommodate the stationing of US military troops here.
'It's not an issue that has been discussed between Singapore and the US. It has not been raised between us.'
