SINGAPORE: While Singapore does not take sides in its dealings, it also has its own view and chooses principles, said Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday, October 7, during a fireside chat with FutureChina Global Forum. People sometimes misunderstand that by not choosing sides, we don't have a view. "We have a view, we choose principles on any matter, we choose principles," said Mr Teo, who is also the Coordinating Minister for National Security.
The Russian-Ukraine war is an example where we acted on principle, not because we chose one side or another side. Sometimes when we choose a principle and we act in that way, people get annoyed with us, or people praise us because they think that we are their best buds, or we are their best buds. In Singapore's case, it is because we choose principles. Mr Teo noted that Singapore has tried to do this consistently, regardless of issue.
During the hour-long session, Mr Teo also touched on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He pointed out that there has not been enough thinking beyond the tactical issues of how the war is fought.
There is a need to think about what the configuration will be like in Europe, with Russia, and in the world at the end of the war, and of course what are the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people? If we start to think about that a little bit more, I think we will be able to find a way of coming to a landing point in the war, he said.
I think there needs to be a bit more strategic thinking about where we want to be. When we have a little bit more conceptual ideas of where one would like to see Europe, Ukraine's place in Europe, Russia's place in Europe, it will be clearer to see where a landing point will be. At the same time, Mr Teo said he was surprised by the Ukrainians' ability to stop Russian advance and praised the Ukrainian people for their fighting spirit. However, he pointed out that there was a period of 10 to 15 years where Russia did not invest or under-invested. The quality of their equipment, training, and mass of their armed forces declined as a result.
They've invested more in the armed forces, developed new weapons, and improved their weapons over the last half a dozen years. He said that in any armed forces, particularly one of that size, you can have a relatively sharp top of the pyramid and it will be quite good and quite effective.
But when you start to employ a much larger proportion of the armed forces, you get into that part of the armed forces that may not have had the same level of training and leadership as the sharp end.