Defence Secretary and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) Minister
of State, , met with global
leaders in Singapore for the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue this week.
Their participation reconfirms the UK’s commitment to the
Indo-Pacific, a region critical to the UK’s economy, security,
and our commitment to an open and stable international order.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s foremost defence summit for
global leaders and ministers to debate the region’s most pressing
security challenges with a series of plenary sessions and
bilateral discussions.
During the Shangri-La Dialogue, the Defence Secretary addressed
the audience, alongside ministers from Canada and the
Philippines, focused on ‘Building a stable and
balanced Asia-Pacific’ and regional cooperation.
In March, the Prime Minister announced a deal to join CPTPP - a
trade bloc in the Indo-Pacific, which will now have a total GDP
of £11 trillion. During his visit to Japan for G7 last month,
almost £18 billion of new investment into the UK from Japanese
businesses was announced by the Prime Minister, creating more
well-paid jobs in the UK and helping grow the economy.
This is in addition to a new semiconductor partnership with Japan
and critical minerals partnerships with Canada and Australia; and
the Global Combat Air Programme with Japan and Italy, announced
last year.
Defence Secretary said:
It has been a great pleasure to meet with my counterpart Dr Ng
Eng Hen here in Singapore and to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue
to meet defence ministers from across the
Indo-Pacific. Singapore is a trading powerhouse that we have
much in common with.
We understand that Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security is
indivisible and that upholding the rules-based
order is a collective effort – that is why organisations like
ASEAN are so important. This is why we have applied to join
ADMM+, a demonstration of our commitment to strengthening defence
and security in the Indo-Pacific. We are committed to promoting
prosperity and stability in the region.
Minister for the Indo-Pacific, , said:
Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific prosperity and security are tied
more closely together than ever before, and we must work jointly
to protect the rules-based international order to safeguard our
futures.
The UK is committed to playing a full and active role in ensuring
a free, safe and open Indo-Pacific, working with partners in
ASEAN and beyond to tackle global challenges.
Arriving in the region earlier this week, the Defence Secretary
met with his Singapore counterpart, Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng
Hen, on Friday. They discussed continued bilateral cooperation
and our partnership through important groups including the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Five Power
Defence Arrangements (FPDA).
The Defence Secretary also held a series of bilateral meetings
while in Singapore, with ministers from China, Indonesia, and New
Zealand.
On Friday, Defence Secretary visited the FPDA wharf at Sembawang Naval
Installation where he met Commanders from Australia and New
Zealand.
The UK and Singapore are both members of the FPDA, now in their
52nd year. Founded in 1971, the FPDA are a series of agreements
between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK,
with the group seeking to strengthen defence and security in the
Indo-Pacific and work together to promote stability in the
region. Defence Ministers from FPDA nations met earlier today to
discuss continued collaboration and strengthening the group.
In 2021, the UK was delighted to become an ASEAN Dialogue
Partner, a political and economic union of 10 member states in
Southeast Asia, including Singapore. The UK’s Dialogue Partner
status was formalised in August 2021, the first dialogue partner
ASEAN has included in 25 years.
That same year, the UK deployed Royal Navy ships HMS Spey and HMS
Tamar to the Indo-Pacific, following a successful Carrier Strike
Group deployment, as part of the UK’s commitment to regional
peace and stability. The Prime Minister recently confirmed that
the UK’s Carrier Strike Group will return to the region in 2025.
The summit follows a busy few months, during which the UK has
taken concrete actions to take advantage of post-Brexit freedoms
with an ambitious trade policy in the Indo-Pacific.
More than 1.7 million British citizens live in the Indo-Pacific
and our trading relationships with the region were worth over
£250bn in 2022. By 2030, the Indo-Pacific is expected to
account for more than 40% of global GDP and the region is
critical to the UK, to our economy, our security and our values,
upholding the international rules and norms that underpin free
trade, security and stability. With 60% of global trade passing
though shipping routes in the Indo-Pacific, security there has a
direct impact in households in the UK.
