SINGAPORE: Singapore and China will work towards establishing a secure defence telephone link under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that the two countries signed on Thursday (June 1).
Under the MOU, the defence establishments in both countries will work towards setting up the secure line for high-level communications between their respective defence leaders, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said in a media release.
Such high-level open lines of communication are important for strengthening mutual understanding and trust, it added.
The MOU signing was witnessed by Singapore’s Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen and China’s Minister of National Defense General Li Shangfu, who is visiting Singapore for the first time.
General Li is here from Thursday to Sunday and will attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defence summit, which is being held from Friday to Sunday.
As part of his visit, Gen Li co-chaired the second Singapore-China Defence Ministers’ Dialogue (DMD) with Dr Ng on Thursday morning.
Both the DMD and the MOU are initiatives under the enhanced Agreement on Defence Exchanges and Security Cooperation signed in 2019.
GENERAL LI TO SPEAK AT SHANGRI-LA DIALOGUE
General Li will also speak at a plenary session of the Shangri-La Dialogue, titled China’s new security initiatives, on Sunday. The event is run by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
At the Shangri-La Dialogue, participants typically debate the region’s security challenges, engage in bilateral talks, and come up with fresh approaches together at the dialogue, IISS stated on its website.
The keynote address for this year’s conference will be delivered by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the dialogue’s opening dinner on Friday.
Among the speakers are the United States’ Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Mr Austin is expected speak at the first plenary session titled United States’ Leadership in the Indo-Pacific, on Saturday.
Mr Reznikov will be among five speakers at a session titled Managing Euro-Atlantic and Asia-Pacific Security, on Saturday.
Dr Ng will host the ministerial round tables at the dialogue on Saturday and Sunday.
This story was originally published in TODAY.