Singapore Defense Minister: ‘The world is in peril’

CGTN Europe

Attending his 12th #Munich Security Conference, Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen tells CGTN Europe he has ‘Never seen a time when there was [this] sense of urgency – and rightly so,’ with the world in peril from various confrontations.

Transcript

00:00 I've never seen a time when there was that sense of urgency, and rightly so.

00:06 I mean, you have a war fought on the battleground of Ukraine, but obviously with both NATO and

00:14 the US heavily involved.

00:18 There's a sense of urgency because there is the feeling that if things go further wrong,

00:29 the world, as we understand it, the rules which gave us prosperity, globalization, peace

00:36 after World War II, becomes in peril.

00:42 And on top of that, you have the situation in Israel-Hamas, the fear of wider contagion,

00:51 and of course, US-China strategic rivalry in Asia.

00:57 So I think the feelings of apprehension, the feelings that we need to chart a more stable

01:09 course, are all appropriate.

01:14 And the takeaway is that we as leaders need to deal with these challenges, as well as

01:23 to prevent more problems from precipitating, because I don't think globally you can, for

01:34 example, if you have a conflict in Asia, I'm not sure that our systems can withstand instability

01:44 in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

01:47 So my message has been quite simple.

01:50 You don't need a conflict in Asia, you mustn't have a conflict in Asia, whatever the reasons.

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