Lee Hsien Loong references US-China tensions in speech to Australian parliament
|
Version 0 of 1. The prime minister of Singapore has referenced regional tensions in his address to the Australian parliament, telling MPs he regards the United States as a “benign force” and welcomes China “engaging constructively with the region.” Lee Hsien Loong said on Wednesday that Australia and Singapore were open economies that relied heavily on international trade and on global markets. “We both need a stable and orderly world in which countries big and small can prosper in peace,” Lee said in his speech, the first address to an Australian parliament by a Singaporean prime minister. “This requires an open and inclusive regional order where all the major powers can participate. We both see the United States as a benign force, playing a major role in fostering peace and stability in Asia. At the same time, we both have substantial ties with other major powers. “For both of us, China is our largest trading partner. We wish to strengthen our cooperation with China and welcome China in engaging constructively with the region. “For instance, we both participate in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, an initiative proposed by China. Secondly, we both want to deepen ties between Australia and south-east Asia. “Australia has decided that its future lies in Asia. Singapore believes that strengthening Australia’s links with Asia will help to keep the region open.” The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in welcoming Lee to parliament, also traversed territory about balancing his country’s two key foreign policy relationships, the US and China. Turnbull said Australia and Singapore backed institutions that supported regional stability, and were as one in rejecting the proposition that “might is right”. He later told parliament that Australia and Singapore were “natural partners”. “We are both committed to and have embraced free trade,” he said. “There are critics and enemies of free trade in our midst but both of our nations know that free trade and open markets are the key to continued prosperity. “Underpinning that prosperity is a steadfast solidarity in the cause of peace and, above all, as we said earlier today, in the battle against Islamist terrorism, an issue that is fresh in all of our minds today on the anniversary of the Bali bombing in 2002.” The formalities were a prelude to a program in which several agreements will be signed, including a deal on military training, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on innovation and science, and an agreement on combating transnational drug crime. The two leaders will also sign off on an extension to the bilateral free trade agreement, which was first signed in 2003. The military agreement will give effect to a plan to rotate 14,000 Singaporean military personnel through Queensland each year. This will require an expansion of military bases in the north of the state. The new arrangement is proposed to last for 25 years. At present, 6,600 Singaporean troops train in Australia for six weeks a year. Turnbull said the signing of the enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership would “deliver substantial mutual benefits, not least from the more than $2bn investment by Singapore in expanding defence infrastructure made available to Singapore for training in Queensland”. The defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne, said on Wednesday that Singapore would spend $2.25bn to fund the full redevelopment of training facilities in north Queensland. “Australia will also grant Singapore enhanced access for unilateral land training from the current six weeks each year, increasing that to 18 weeks each year and training from 6,600 Singaporean troops up to14,000, so more than doubling the current access of Singapore and military training to north Queensland,” Pyne said. “This is really good news on many fronts. It’s particularly good news for those members who represent north Queensland and central Queensland electorates, like the member for Dawson, member for Capricornia, the member for Leichardt and other members in north Queensland.” “It will create jobs and it will create growth in that part of Queensland, an area which is suffering more than many other parts of Australia because of the mining boom going from the construction phase to the extraction phase.” |