TRANSCRIPT
Now in its 21st year, the name of Asia's leading annual defence summit conjures associations with the utopian remote mountain paradise of Shangri-La described in the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton.
Started by British strategist John Chipman through the think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, his vision for the annual event was to create a defence ministers' gathering where disagreements can be had out in the open, with the aim to imagine and create the conditions for strategic stability.
The summit - backed by the Singapore government - demands no consensus or final communique, allowing for spontaneity and live exchanges between the high-level officials in attendance.
This year, ministers and defence officials from 45 countries are represented.
Philippines President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Junior delivered the keynote address, speaking frankly about his assessment of escalating hostilities in the disputed South China Sea.
"If by a wilful act, a Filipino not only servicemen but even a Filipino citizen, if a Filipino citizen is killed by a wilful act - that is I think a very, very close to what we define as an act of war; and therefore we will respond accordingly."
The summit is also the place where in previous years, more than 100 bilateral meetings have been held on the sidelines over three days, allowing ministers to meet face-to-face.
The newly appointed Chinese defence minister Dong Jun, who took on the role in December, met with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin.
It is the first in-person meeting by the defence ministers of both countries since 2022 - when China shut down military-to-military communications, after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
Topics discussed included: Chinese military drills around Taiwan, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Gaza conflict, and freedom of navigation in the South China.
Mr Austin says he is pleased that both countries will resume telephone conversations between military commanders in coming months, with plans also to form a crisis-communications working group by the end of the year.
But Mr Austin was also challenged by a Chinese delegate who used a QnA session to suggest the expansion of the NATO military alliance caused the Ukraine crisis, before he repeated a claim by Chinese Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng that the US wants to create an Asian-Pacific version of NATO.
Mr Austin says he rejects both claims.
"I respectfully disagree with your point that the expansion of NATO caused the Ukraine crisis. The Ukraine crisis was (applause)... but this was brought on because of a decision made by Mr Putin. As to whether or not we're trying to create a NATO in the Indo-Pacific, I would tell you that what we're doing is what I said earlier in the speech. Like-minded countries with similar values and a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific are working together to achieve that vision. And we've strengthened relationships with our allies and partners. And we see other countries strengthening their relationships with each other in the region."
A spokesperson for China's defence ministry, Wu Qian, says China prefers to resolve disagreements through dialogue, but there are concerns about the actions of the Philippines and the US in the South China Sea.
“On the South China Sea issue, the Chinese defence minister said the Philippines, emboldened and supported by outside powers, has broken its own promises and kept provoking the issue. In particular, the United States side has deployed a middle-range missile system to the Philippines under the cover of military exercises. China strongly opposes the deployment, which poses a real threat to regional security. We remain committed to resolving the disagreement with the Philippines through consultation on an equal footing and observing previous promises. However, there is a limit to continued and intensified provocations."
Meanwhile, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles also met with Chinese defence chief Dong Jun.
He raised concerns about two recent incidents involving the Chinese military and Australian defence personnel.
"As China steps up to a larger role, it must accept like all great powers that there will be much greater scrutiny on the way it uses its strength; and which countries it chooses to partner with. Acceptance of such restraints is the key to any successful and durable international order."
In the Yellow Sea last month, a Chinese fighter jet released flares in front of an Australian military helicopter that had been launched from the HMAS Hobart that was in the area enforcing United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea.
In November, there was another incident off Japan’s coast, in which the Australian government said a Chinese warship emitted sonar pulses that injured one of its naval divers.
Chinese officials disputed that its military conducted any actions that "may have affected the Australian divers".
In the audience listening to Mr Marles's speech, an officer from China's People's Liberation Army, Hanwen Ge says in his view, China has done nothing wrong.
"Since the end of Cold War, China has never waged a war against its neighbouring countries. On the contrary, China co-operates with local partners to get mutual understanding and economic prosperity in the last 40 years. Of course, as a sovereign country China has the natural rights to defend this national security, including territory integration and the moratorium privilege according to historical facts and international law."
Mr Marles says the spirit of co-operation is what must be kept front of mind.
"Can I thank the colleague from China for the contribution that was made. I mean, look, at the end of the day, if that is a statement in support of the global rules-based order, that is really welcome. I mean, the only point that we're trying to make here is that the global rules-based order, which has been in existence since the end of the Second World War and has evolved - has underpinned during peace and security in our region, but importantly has been the underpinning of economic prosperity and growth within our region. And China's benefitted from that. Australia has benefitted from that."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also attended the summit - in what is his second trip to Asia since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Holding bilateral meetings with leaders - including Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto he says he had come personally to the summit to gather support from within the Asia-Pacific region for an upcoming peace summit in Switzerland later this month.
"Peace in Ukraine. That's really what our people need. That's really what our people want and of course for me it is very important to hear your voice, voice of your big country, of your society on peace summit in Switzerland."
