When addressing the Asean navies at the first ever Asean-China Maritime Exercise which Singapore helped to organise, Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen suggested that they put in time and effort in building linkages and understanding how the other party thinks so these personal ties can hopefully reduce mishaps or miscalculations. The hope is that familiarity will foster peaceful interactions over time and stave off the outbreak of conflict in the South China Sea, wrote Assoc Prof Alan Chong from RSIS. In many ways, this is the quintessential art of multipolar communication in Singapore’s defence relations, he added.

… Alan Chong is an associate professor at the Centre of Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, at Nanyang Technological University.