Transcript of Foreign Minister George Yeo's Remarks to Singapore Media at 38th AMM/PMC/12th ARF on 29 Jul 2005, Vientiane

Minister's Opening Comments

Thank you all for coming. It's been an interesting day of discussions. The ASEAN Regional Forum covered a number of subjects which were important and topical, like the 6-party talks in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear issue. That's making some progress, so there was a certain air of optimism. Then there were considerable discussion on counter terrorism, and some of the longer-range issues like promoting the peace and understanding. And maritime security which I spoke about. This is a subject which we feel is very important and requires urgent attention. In fact on Monday, Foreign Minister Hassan of Indonesia is convening an informal session involving the 3 foreign Ministers. Syed Hamid and myself will also be there. We will be at Batam on Monday evening, continue our discussions on Tuesday morning and then come home after that.

Questions and Answers

Q (Channel News Asia): You have spent quite a bit of effort in explaining the importance of maritime security and why both the Straits of Malacca and Singapore needs to be guarded first by littoral States and of course others. What is the general reaction of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) participants to your explanation?

A: It was important to emphasize the importance of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore not just to the littoral States, but to the world. About a third of global commerce passes through these two straits; half the oil trade, 80% of the oil flowing to China and Japan. And if something cataclysmic happens in the Straits, I think the consequences are huge. So it is important to focus attention on it. The problem of piracy is a separate problem but that has gone up, and doubled in the last three years. But most worryingly, the joint war committee of Lloyds has included the Straits of Malacca as a war risk. And this has an immediate impact on premiums and in fact, some underwriters have pulled out. I was talking to NOL and APL the other day and the officials told me that immediately the premiums have shot up by millions of dollars. So this is something deserving of attention of not only the littoral States, but all the major users. Which is why we feel that the matter requires urgent attention.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): In your opinion, what is the role of littoral States in maritime security? Has there been a consensus on it?

A: At the Shangri-La Dialogue, there was a good discussion on this subject. And the participants, we included most of those who are now at the ARF, agreed on three broad principles.

Firstly, the littoral States have got primary responsibility. Secondly, international agencies like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and immediate user States have an interest and a duty to support the littoral States, and the third principle is whatever is done should respect the sovereignty of the littoral States and also be in accordance with International Law, principally with UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). So UNCLOS is clear on this. Yes, the littoral States have sovereign rights, but the littoral States also have duties to the user States in some cases, our duties to the user States override our interests as littoral States. So these have got to be made clear, but at the same time, it is important that the user States do not lightly trample on the sovereign rights of the littoral States. Singapore is a littoral State.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): So how does it translate to concrete initiatives in terms of ensuring maritime security?

A: Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Najib came up with an interesting idea which was well supported at the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is to have "eyes in the sky", which means that the littoral States sharing information for maritime surveillance and engaging the assistance of the user States. If we can do that, that would give us a great tactical advantage in responding to problems. So this is an idea which I will discuss in Batam with my fellow Ministers, Syed Hamid from Malaysia, and Pak Hassan from Indonesia.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): Is this part of the agenda in Batam?

A: The agenda is still broad. It is an informal discussion and we have got to lay out the boundaries as it were.

Q (Straits Times): Minister, the assistance of user States, is there any thinking on what is the shape of this?

A: We have got to discuss that in greater detail. In the end it is important to get the defence establishments involved too because they are the experts in this field. But already between the Singapore Navy and the Malaysian Navy, they are already talking on how they can cooperate on maritime surveillance.

Q (TODAY): Have the Americans expressed interest in joining in? Patrolling the Malacca Straits. How do you see this happening?

A: Well not just Americans, but all the user States are willing to support this and contribute in whatever way that they can, but respecting the sovereignty of the littoral States.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): In your remarks circulated to the media, you mentioned the inter-sessional meeting on maritime security was proposed and you agreed to it. So can you elaborate on the details?

A: Well, we'll see. There are many things to discuss. Let the officials sit down and map out the issues and determine what the areas are for follow up. This is going to be a continuing problem. It is not a one off.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): So is this going to be held together with ARF? Or is it going to be held...

A: This is between ARFs. That is why they call it inter-sessional.

Q (Channel News Asia): Coming back to the AMM as a whole, is there a high point and a low point that you'll like to share with us on this year's AMM session?

A: On the whole, the proceedings in the last few days have been very good. The mood was upbeat, positive and constructive. We settled the issue of the EAS, the modalities, so I believe that we will have a good first meeting at in Kuala Lumpur at the end of the year.

Then the Myanmar decision to opt out of the Chairmanship next year defused an important point of contention. I think it caused some disappointment to the international media because they were expecting it to blow up, but decoupling has both a positive and a negative aspect. By decoupling Myanmar's domestic politics from ASEAN's, it does not mean that those who are supporting Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar will be happy because in fact it removes a pressure point on the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). But that is a domestic concern of the Myanmar people, and not something that we can really interfere with. Indeed whatever decisions they make, it is the Myanmar people who will bear the consequences, and you can't really second guess them. But what is important is we protect ASEAN, and by decoupling the issue, ASEAN is rid of a problem which became very complicated, and for which we thank the Myanmar leaders for their decision.

Then on the ASEAN + Dialogue Partners dialogues, they went on well with our North-East Asian neighbours, Japan, China, Korea, with warmth. And with our other Dialogue Partners, the US, Russia, we gained a good understanding and a meeting of minds on many issues.

On the EAS, we were pleasantly surprised by the interest shown by the major powers. The US expressed the hope that the EAS will always be open and inclusive. They would be worried if it was otherwise. It shouldn't be otherwise. In the case of Europe, it made clear its wish to be an observer. In the case of Russia, we were pleasantly surprised that they requested to actually join the EAS, and last night they put up a whole performance to underline their interest to joining the EAS, and that I think was a compliment to us.

On the ARF, we agreed on the inclusion of Bangladesh for next year's meeting and at next year's meeting, we are prepared to consider Sri Lanka. But after that, we should be very careful of enlarging the membership any further. We don't really want to reach out to the Middle East because it is a separate set of problems there, or to Central Asia which is another separate sphere. So on the whole, many countries felt that maybe it was about time that we consider disciplining the membership and confining it to the region and the problems now under discussion.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): So what are your views on the absence of the Chinese Foreign Minister and the Indian Foreign Minister?

A: The Chinese Minister was here, but he had to rush off the day before yesterday to Myanmar, probably on some urgent matter. In the case of the Japanese Foreign Minister, we understand perfectly why he isn't here, because he has intensive lobbying going on in New York on the G4 resolution.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): What about the Indian Foreign Minister?

A: He is in New Delhi for a parliamentary debate. Now I don't think there is any dimininution of interest in the ASEAN plus process. In fact, we are constantly surprised by how much interest others are showing in what we do here.

Q (Lianhe Zaobao): Has it affected the mood of the discussions in terms of the level of representation?

A: No, not at all. Thank you.

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