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SINGAPORE: Defence leaders, military chiefs and security experts from around the world are gathering in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia\u2019s top security summit, which begins on Friday (May 29).<\/p>\n
Held against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions, the annual meeting comes amid conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, as well as questions about the United States’ long-term commitment to the Indo-Pacific.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Washington’s strategic priorities, alongside China’s rapid military modernisation and growing assertiveness in the region, are also expected to dominate discussions over the three-day forum.<\/p>\n
The summit will bring together representatives from 44 countries, including 54 ministerial-level delegates and more than 42 chief of defence forces and senior defence officials from across the Asia-Pacific and Europe.<\/p>\n
Vietnamese leader To Lam will open the summit with a keynote address on Friday, while US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to take the stage on Saturday in one of the most closely watched moments of the summit.<\/p>\n
Here are five themes to watch at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue.<\/p>\n
Hegseth is expected to <\/span>outline Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy<\/span> in his address on Saturday, as the Trump administration navigates overlapping crises in the Middle East<\/span> and ongoing tensions in Europe.<\/p>\n Regional allies will be watching for assurance that the US remains committed to the Indo-Pacific, amid concerns that Washington could be overstretched or increasingly distracted.<\/p>\n “There will likely be some continued anxiety over the unpredictability and volatility of US policy, and the consequences for stability,” said Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National \u200bUniversity of Singapore.<\/p>\n The Iran war has thrown the global economy into \u200bdisarray, driving up oil prices and feeding inflationary pressures across Asia\u2019s import-dependent economies.<\/span><\/p>\n “The most pressing issue for Asia would be the US-Israel-Iran conflict and its effects on energy supply,” he told Reuters.<\/p>\n Meia Nouwens from the International Institute for Strategic Studies said security developments are now directly affecting energy flows and economic stability in Asia.<\/p>\n “Security … is having a direct impact on energy security, energy flows to this part of the world, that’s impacting economies and growth,” she told CNA\u2019s Asia First on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n “I imagine lots of countries will be asking questions about this at the Shangri-La Dialogue, questions around commitments to this part of the world as well,” said the senior fellow for Chinese security and defence policy.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the concerns, Nouwen said she expects the US’ commitment to the Indo-Pacific to remain firm and that will be the key message that the US would want to send.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE: Defence leaders, military chiefs and security experts from around the world are gathering in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia\u2019s top security summit, which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--uZI42NfV--\/c_crop,h_561,w_999,x_1,y_1\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_one-cms:core:watermark:ap_data-1,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/one-cms\/core\/Singapore_Asia_Security_Conference_23393.jpg?itok=OtihhqZo","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12376,13969,157],"class_list":["post-56253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-dialogue","tag-shangrila","tag-watch","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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