David Boey
Defence Correspondent
Asian countries are moving towards a consensus on how to boost maritime security in the piracy-prone Malacca Strait, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday after a meeting with his regional counterparts.
Speaking to reporters at the 4th Shangri-La Dialogue security forum, Mr Teo did not rule out joint patrols between Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia — the three littoral states that border the busy waterway which carry about half the world's oil and about a third of its trade.
"There seems to be a consensus forming around three general principles on how we can deal with maritime security in the Malacca Strait," he said.
One principle was that the three states would be responsible for its security. The second acknowledges that the international community and user states also have a role to play.
The third underlines that security measures have to comply with international law and respect the sovereignty of the littoral states.
"Within these parameters... it gives us quite a lot of room to devise useful, practical, creative solutions to see how we can improve security in the straits," he said.
Asked if this meant Malaysia and Indonesia could reverse their long-standing resistance to allowing joint patrols between the three littoral states, Mr Teo said this was a possibility.
"I would not rule them out but it is a matter which has to be discussed between the littoral states."
He stressed that progress had been made over the past year.
The three nations have begun jointly co-ordinated patrols, in which their security forces helped each other but remained in their own waters.
Mr Teo had engaged in a two-hour lunchtime discussion with 16 defence ministers or their representatives on maritime security and the security of the Korean peninsula. Countries at the lunch included several Asean members as well as Australia, Britain, India, Japan, Pakistan and the United States.
These officials are here for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's only forum where defence ministers, policy-makers and security analysts gather to debate security issues. Organised by London-based think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the weekend meeting attracted about 250 delegates from across the globe.
Mr Teo said that an exercise aimed at stopping the shipment of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) will be hosted by Singapore for the first time in August.
He said several countries will come together to practise and work through some procedures used to stop the transhipment of WMDs, like chemical weapons or nuclear missiles.
Codenamed Deep Sabre '05, the exercise is part of a US-led effort that trains military units to track down, intercept and board ships suspected of carrying parts that can be made into WMDs.
Deep Sabre marks the first time the US-led initiative, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative, will stage an exercise in South-east Asia.
