Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the East Asia Summit on Thursday that more should be done to prevent religious extremism in the region especially given the threat posed by ISIS.
PM Lee said that there is no purely military solution to such “non-traditional security threats” but it is still necessary to fight and weaken the group.
He suggested that the ideological roots of the group should be tackled instead and in rlation to this, he said that de-radicalisation Symposium may be helpful.
He said that such a symposium could benefit the region as experts could share best practices.
For example, in Singapore, PM Lee boasted that we have dealt with detainees who have planned terror attacks in Singapore before and Singapore strongly condemns ISIS’ actions.
PM Lee also praised the US’s firm leadership on the issue and said that Singapore is ready to support where it can.
Mr Lee also said at the summit that the global economy also has to remain open and keep protectionism at bay.
He also emphasised that global leaders should quickly work to conclude negotiations on the various trade pacts such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Moving forward in this, PM Lee said that one of the most important aspects was the relationship between USA and China as this will determine stability in the world.
He also commented that there have been signs of a thaw in relations, after a period of friction over historical issues and territorial disputes among China Japan and South Korea and this is good.
PM Lee will soon be heading to Australia for the G20 summit in Brisbane which starts on Saturday.
Source: http://therealsingapore.com
