Vietnam urged other Southeast Asian nations to take a stronger stand against Chinese expansions in the South China Sea, as a tense regional security forum began Saturday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) with North Korea also under fire over its nuclear program.

Ahead of the launch of the annual gathering of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Vietnam made a bold play against China with a raft of suggested changes to a planned joint communique.

It set the stage for what was expected to be a fiery few days of Asean diplomacy forum in the Philippines, with the top diplomats from China, the United States, Russia and North Korea joining their Asean and other Asia-Pacific counterparts for security talks.

The meetings will take place as the United Nations Security Council votes this weekend on a US-drafted resolution to toughen sanctions against North Korea to punish the isolated regime for its missile and nuclear tests.

The United States said it would also seek to build unified pressure on the North at the Manila event — known as the Asean Regional Forum — and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Pyongyang would receive a strong message.

But on the South China Sea dispute — one of Asia’s other top powder keg issues — there was far less consensus with Vietnam resisting efforts by the Philippines to placate Beijing, diplomats told AFP.

The annual meeting of Southeast Asia’s top diplomats opened on Saturday without the usual security overkill. Motorists were allowed through as joggers, cyclists and tennis players sweated under a cloudy sky by the Manila bay — a usual destination of family members who want to get a whiff of the ocean breeze during the weekend. The latest annual meetings of the Asean foreign ministers would also include those from the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.

Public traffic was only stopped when the foreign ministers from the 10-member Asean arrived mid-morning Saturday.

According to Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde, President Rodrigo Duterte has shown disdain for security lockdowns that inconvenience the public.

Still, police deployed more than 13,000 officers in the capital and declared no-fly and no-sail zones around the venue. </s> It was a day of firm handshakes and warm words as political leaders and defence chiefs met ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference.

Besides Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, United States Defence Secretary James Mattis and newly-minted Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu also called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana yesterday.

PM Lee congratulated Mr Mohamad on his appointment and talked about the close relations and extensive cooperation between the two countries. Mr Mohamad is on his first official visit here after his Pakatan Harapan coalition swept into power on May 9.

Mr Mattis and PM Lee reaffirmed the excellent and longstanding bilateral relations between Singapore and the US, and discussed regional security developments, including the importance of the US' continued engagement of the Asia-Pacific.

Mr Mattis had earlier met his Singapore counterpart, Dr Ng Eng Hen. Over breakfast, he stressed the continued commitment from the US to engaging countries in the region and the important role that Asean has to play as part of the US' vision for a "free and open Indo-Pacific".

The two men also talked about the situation in the Korean peninsula and the terrorism threat in South-east Asia, said a Defence Ministry statement.

Mr Mattis will speak at the Shangri-La Dialogue this morning, where he is expected to explain the US' regional role.

Yesterday, Mr Mattis and Dr Ng co-chaired an informal meeting with South-east Asian defence ministers who have gathered in town for the conference. They discussed the growing terror threat in the region, especially the dangers of returning fighters. They welcomed Singapore's push as this year's Asean chair to beef up counter-terrorism cooperation among the militaries, including sharing intelligence.

Dr Ng also met Lieutenant-General He Lei, vice-president of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Science, yesterday.

Both men reaffirmed their strong bilateral defence relationship. Dr Ng accepted Lt-Gen He's invitation to this year's Xiangshan Forum, a rival security conference to Shangri-La Dialogue, in September.

Both men welcomed the inaugural Asean-China Maritime Exercise later this year, which would bring Asean member states and Chinese navies closer.

The Singapore Armed Forces and the PLA interact regularly through port calls, bilateral exercises and exchanges of visits.

Dr Ng also yesterday met his counterparts from South Korea, Canada and New Zealand. </s> Singapore, which recently topped the global law-and-order index for a fifth consecutive year ahead of Norway, Iceland and Finland, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the success of the historic US- summit. The summit, to be held on June 12, will be the first-ever meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting US President.

As the two controversial leaders – and Kim Jong-Un – prepare for a face-to-face aimed at resolving a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, the Singapore government is working double-time to make sure that one of the most unusual and highly anticipated summits in recent history is held without any untoward incident. 

 

 According to latest reports, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un has already arrived in Singapore on Sunday.

Trump and Kim are expected to meet at the Capella Hotel located on Singapore's Sentosa Island on June 12. Security at the Capella is tight, with even reporters being banned from entering the historic building. The hotel, with its 112 rooms and villas, was designed by British architect Norman Foster.

Security: While both leaders are expected to arrive with their personal security teams, the Singaporean police, including its Gurkha contingent, are expected to secure the summit venue, roads and hotels.

Checkpoints to come up: Several notices have appeared warning residents that security checkpoints will be set up in the city and will stay until Thursday, June 14.

Ban on weapons, loudspeakers and drones: A posting in the government gazette bans weapons, flares, loudspeakers, sound systems and banners in the special zone. The police have been allowed to conduct body searches on all people entering the area and drones have also been banned.

Airspace restrictions: Meanwhile, a notice, on the websites of the Civil Aviation Organization and the US Federal Aviation Administration, says that airspace over Singapore will be temporarily restricted on June 11, 12 and 13.

Restrictions on aircraft: All aircraft arriving at Singapore's Changi Airport will be required to reduce speed and face some restrictions on runway use “for reasons of national security”, a notice says. Travellers have been advised to expect delays for flights arriving at and departing from Singapore during this period. </s> Ryamizard added that the defense pact can be further strengthened through enhanced cooperation in land and air patrols with other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

“Preserving ocean security in Asean is the responsibility of member countries. I’m certain we can all preserve the security and sovereignty of our respective territories,” Ryamizard said.

The defense minister officiated the joint sea patrols with Malaysian Defense Minister Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Philippine Defense Minister Delvin Lorenzana.

The three Southeast Asian nations also inaugurated a military command center in Tarakan, North Kalimantan, to serve as a center for intelligence exchanges. Similar centers will be built in Tawau, Malaysia, and Bongao, the Philippines.

“We hope that the establishment of the military command centers in the three countries will minimize the incidents that may occur in the territorial waters that are within the borders of our three countries,” Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said.

The inauguration was also attended by the chief of the Malaysian army, Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi, and Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) chief of staff Eduardo M. Año.

According to Gatot, the centers are a follow-up from a joint declaration by participating nations in May 2016 in Yogyakarta, which aimed to increase security in the Sulu Sea and surrounding areas in a show of solidarity between the neighboring countries.

The three Southeast Asian countries agreed to implement strategic preventive methods to meet security demands in the region, including by conducting coordinated sea patrols, providing immediate rescue to vessels in emergency situations and establishing a communication network to simplify coordination in emergencies. </s> SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho shook hands and exchanged words and smiles at a Southeast Asian security forum on Saturday in Singapore.

Pompeo said before the brief encounter during a group photo session at the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) regional forum that he had not held talks with Ri during his visit to Singapore.

Pompeo, who has been leading the U.S. negotiating in efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize, said earlier the process of ending the North’s nuclear program would take time but that he was optimistic that it would happen. </s> (CNN) Three Southeast Asian nations have started trilateral naval patrols in the first concrete sign of cooperation against ISIS-inspired terror groups operating in the region.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia will begin joint patrols and information-sharing to curb the influence of local Islamist terror groups, according to a joint statement released by the three governments.

Southeast Asian terror cells aligned with the Iraq- and Syria-based group have been emboldened in recent years, culminating in a month-long battle for the city of Marawi on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines

The Trilateral Maritime Patrol Indomalphi -- whose name incorporates elements of each of the three countries' names -- was "initiated and implemented" by the governments of the "three in order to face the security challenges associated with each country's border waters," according to the statement.

The start of the initiative was marked with a ceremony aboard an Indonesian naval vessel in the Javanese province of North Kalimantan Monday, attended by the defense ministers of the three countries, alongside each nation's armed forces commander.

"The Trilateral Maritime Patrol Indomalphi is a concrete step taken by the three countries ... in maintaining stability in the region in the face of non-traditional real threats such as piracy, kidnapping, terrorism and other transnational crimes in regional waters," the statement said.

To implement the increased intelligence sharing and joint patrols, there will be a Maritime Command Center (MCC) in each nation -- Tarakan in Indonesia, Tawau in Malaysia and Bongao in the Philippines. The maritime patrols will also include air and land elements.

Chief among the issues that the Southeast Asian nations face is the rising threat of local terror groups from the three countries, who use the channels and inlets of the nations' coastlines on the Sulu Sea to move weapons, cash and personnel between the Indonesian island of Java, Malaysia's Sabah province and the Philippines' Mindanao, a large southern island with a large Muslim population and a long history of religiously-motivated separatism.

Kidnappings, especially by Mindanao-based militants of Indonesian nationals, has also been a key issue in moving the initiative forward.

In addition to dozens of Indonesians, mainly fishermen and seamen, kidnapped in the past few years, the Sulu-based faction of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) recently kidnapped two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Philippines national from a marina in the southern Philippines.

"This is a warning so we can be ready to address this together because there are sleeper cells that are in each of our countries," Indonesian military chief Gen. Gatot Murmatyo said at the ceremony.

"With this trilateral cooperation it will ease the exchange of information because the speed and accuracy of information is very much needed to put in place measures and anticipate the possible escape of (militants) out of Marawi."

Despite the three nations' increasing issues with ISIS-inspired terrorism and their long unguarded coastlines bordering the Sulu Sea, long used for smuggling routes, active cooperation between the countries' governments has been lacking, Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy and Analysis of Conflict told CNN last week.

"Part of the problem is that borders in this archipelago are extremely porous. It's still possible to get in by boat. All three countries -- Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines -- are trying to strengthen their border controls and their immigration checks," the Jakarta-based regional terrorism expert said.

"One thing that's needed is a common watch list so that all three countries are operating from the same information about who may be dangerous. But regional cooperation is improving on that." </s> SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi who arrived in Singapore on Thursday will have a number of engagements in his tightly packed schedule on Friday.

The Prime Minister will receive a ceremonial welcome at the Istana (Presidential Palace), where he will meet with the Singaporean President Halimah Yacob.

Prime Minister Modi will next meet his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, after which there will be signing and exchange of MoUs and joint press statements.

After the joint presser, Prime Minister Lee will host an official lunch in honour of Prime Minister Modi.

Prime Minister Modi will next visit the Nanyang Technical University, which is ranked the best technological university and is considered a leading centre for research in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He will interact with the president and the board members of the university.

Following this, Prime Minister Modi will deliver the keynote address of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which will be the first time an Indian Prime Minister will address the event.

The Shangri-La Dialogue will be a platform to articulate regional security issues. The Prime Minister is expected to speak on India's views on peace and security in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region and India's role in the region.

Defence ministers, military chiefs and top officials from more than 40 countries will attend the event.

After the keynote address, a working dinner would be hosted by Prime Minister Lee for all dignitaries.

In a statement last week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (East) Preeti Saran said that Singapore is the second largest source of investment in India, accounting for 16 percent of total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India.

"Between 2000 and 2017, over 8000 Indian companies registered in Singapore and our bilateral trade with Singapore is USD 16 billion accounting for 20 percent of India's trade with the ASEAN region. Singapore companies have become major partners in areas like urban development and planning, Smart Cities and infrastructure development including sports, aviation, industrial parks and logistics," Saran added.

She further said that India's oldest uninterrupted bilateral naval exercise is held with Singapore.

About 10 percent of Singapore nationals are of Indian origin. The total Indian population in Singapore is estimated to be about 8 lakhs.

"Over 1.3 million Indians actually visit Singapore as tourists so they are really the third largest tourist component for Singapore. Singapore has the highest concentration IIT and IIM alumni so that just shows the number of professionals that it has attracted," Saran said.

While addressing the community-cum-business event named 'Anushasan' at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, Prime Minister Modi called the Indo-Singaporean relations as "a natural partnership with a shared vision".

While highlighting India's role in developing the ASEAN region, Prime Minister Modi further said, "Singapore became a partner and bridge between India and ASEAN".

Later, Prime Minister Modi attended a round-table conference with CEOs for dinner. Thirty top business leaders of Singapore participated in the conference.

Earlier, the Prime Minister visited the India-Singapore Enterprise and Innovation Exhibitions at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, which showcased innovation in frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, fin-tech and innovation for social impact.

Before Singapore, Prime Minister visited Indonesia and Malaysia in a bid to enhance India's relations and engagements with the three countries, who are members of the ASEAN. </s> BANGKOK — A second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set for Vietnam’s capital from Feb. 27-28.

Trump and Kim met last June in Singapore, outreach the American president has said opened a path to peace. But that face-to-face hasn’t resulted in any solid plan for ridding the North of nuclear weapons.

The Singapore summit made history by simply being the first-ever meeting between sitting leaders of the longtime enemies. It was filled with pageantry and memorable moments, such as the first handshake, walks in a garden, and a brief glimpse inside Trump’s limousine.

This time, observers will be looking for something more concrete.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> On Monday, after much anticipation and several delays, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines finally jointly and publicly launched trilateral patrols in Tarakan, Indonesia. The move is yet another sign of progress for an indigenous minilateral initiative that holds promise in spite of the lingering challenges it faces.

As I have noted before, the three Southeast Asian states had pledged to undertake trilateral patrols in the Sulu-Sulawesi seas – long a hub for transnational organized crime and terrorist threats – following a meeting in Bali last August. (See: “Confronting Threats in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas: Opportunities and Challenges”).

The move was hailed as an example of an indigenous, minilateral security arrangement within Southeast Asia, following the Malacca Strait Sea Patrols (MSSP) that had been set up by in the 2000s initially involving Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and later Thailand too.

Yet despite some progress, fully and publicly operationalizing the patrols has been unsurprisingly slow to take off due to several reasons, ranging from the very threats that the patrols are aiming to mitigate to more mundane rationales like the logistics of getting the ministers of the countries together and specifics related to the launching process itself (See: “Trilateral Patrols in the Sulu Sea: Still Coming Soon?”).

On Monday, the three countries announced the launching of the Trilateral Maritime Patrol (TMP) “Indomalphi” – a rather unwieldy name, which was adopted because it incorporates the beginning part of each of the three countries’ names – in Tarakan. The launch saw a series of military maneuvers involving ships and aircraft, a ceremony on board an Indonesian naval vessel attended by all three defense ministers and military chiefs, and a series of addresses and statements.

With the region consumed by the growing threat posed by the Islamic State in the southern Philippines as evidenced by the Marawi conflict over the past few weeks, all three sides were keen to highlight the arrangement’s significance in not just the Sulu Sea, but in the context of the terrorism challenge in Southeast Asia more broadly.

In terms of the future outlook for TMP beyond the launch, the general architecture has already been laid out, with a network of naval patrols and rotational air patrols supported by arrangements between the countries including on information-sharing and communications as well as three Maritime Command Centers (MCCs) in Tarakan, Tawau, and Bongao and a joint operations center. More collaboration is expected to further boost familiarization of personnel, assets, and process.

But as I noted recently, officials from the three sides have also wisely left room open for the initiative to broaden in terms of its scope and even membership given both the future potential and lingering challenges (See: “Sulu Sea Trilateral Patrols in the Spotlight at 2017 Shangri-La Dialogue”). The presence of Singapore and Brunei as observers was notable in this respect. The former’s involvement was particularly significant because of its membership in the MSSP in the 2000s as well as its Information Fusion Center (IFC) in Changi Naval Base, which, since its establishment in 2009, has become a crucial hub for strengthening multinational and interagency cooperation to counter a range of maritime security threats.
The annual three-day regional security forum begins in Singapore.