PM Lee and President Biden at a press conference in the White House on March 29, 2022.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
The war in Europe is poised to upend many global equations, particularly since Russia seems to get unflinching diplomatic support from China, which says the bilateral relationship between the two has “no limits”.
In this churn, many Asian states are recalibrating strategies. One time-tested relationship that has stood firm for decades are strong ties between Singapore and the United States.
They agreed that the Ukraine war has a “negative impact on the Indo-Pacific region”. They also said they would continue to build their partnership amid the global security challenges.
Separately, Mr Lee held a fireside talk at Washington DC’s Council on Foreign Relations and discussed a range of subjects, from strategic developments, China’s posture, to sustainability.
<p>Rebel militia fighters of the People’s Defense Forces, including, at right, a former banquet coordinator for a hotel in Yangon, patrol a front line area near government military positions in the Kayin State of Myanmar, March 9, 2022. Myanmar’s newest rebels have abandoned cafes and professions to join longstanding ethnic militias in a near-daily battle with long odds against the country’s military junta. (Adam Dean/The New York Times)</p>
PHOTO: NYTNS
Related to the geopolitical churn is the issue of defence multilateralism in South-east Asia. Major powers, from the US to Australia, routinely talk of endorsing ‘Asean centrality’ in discussing Asian developments.
However, Asean is not a supranational body, but an intra-governmental one. Its vehicles for defence diplomacy are the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM), and the ADMM-Plus format where the regional body sits down with key partners.
To do that, he says, it may be necessary to review the Asean Charter itself in order to address the issues that have slowed down the regional body and drained resources toward bureaucratic processes rather than strategic outcomes.
Cold call
<p>India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi greet the media before their meeting in New Delhi, India, March 25, 2022. @DrSJaishankar/ Twitter/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s surprise visit to New Delhi last week – kept under wraps until Mr Wang arrived in the Indian capital – has raised much interest, given the strained bilateral ties between the two nations following a flare-up of their border dispute.
Mr Wang not only met his counterpart, Dr S. Jaishankar, he also separately held talks with India’s National Security Advisor, Mr Ajit Doval.
Professor C Raja Mohan, who is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), explains why Mr Wang got a lukewarm reception in New Delhi, which kept its focus on the border issue rather than issues around Ukraine, which China was keen to raise.
In the past, says Dr Raja Mohan, India might have been eager to sweep bilateral conflicts under the carpet to posture with China on global issues jointly.
For today’s New Delhi, though, neither “Asian solidarity” nor “standing up to the West” are overriding ideological compulsions.
Johor surprise
<p>Political parties' flags hang at a junction during the campaign period of Johor state election at Johor Baru, Johor, March 4, 2022. Picture taken March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain</p>
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In mid-March, Malaysians in Johor State emerging from state assembly polls learnt to their surprise that the chief minister was not the popular incumbent Mr Hasni Mohammad but Mr Onn Hafiz Ghazi, a relatively junior assembly member.
Mr Onn Hafiz’s great-grandfather Onn Jaafar was the founder of United Malays National Organisation, Umno. His grandfather the late Tun Hussein Onn was the third Prime Minister, and his uncle is Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
The unorthodox process of naming the Menteri Besar, as Malaysian chief ministers are called, raises questions about his mandate and ability to govern, says Dr Hutchison.
It is likely that assembly members will make their displeasure felt in various ways – both visible and invisible.
Nuclear power
<p>A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during the exercises by nuclear forces in an unknown location in Russia, in this still image taken from video released February 19, 2022. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.</p>
PHOTO: X80001
The Russian invasion of Ukraine looks likely to lead to a global re-arrangement of the energy landscape as nations seek to punish Moscow and look for alternative sources of oil, gas and coal – all of which Russia has in abundance.
I discussed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s folly of putting his cash-generating energy reserves at risk in this column.
How to shed dependence on Russian fossil fuels?
One obvious turn nations will be tempted to make is a tilt toward raising the contribution of nuclear energy into national grids.
Currently, no country in South-east Asia operates nuclear plants but this could change.
