Singapore PM warns of ISIS and cyber attacks
South-East Asia faces “very real” threats from ISIS despite its defeat in the Middle East, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a regional summit.
Among the 10 countries of the region and its population of 650 million people, there have been episodes of extremism, while the emergence of ISIS has been a rallying point for radicals.
A gun and suicide-bombing attack in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in 2016 was the first assault claimed by ISIS, while the Philippine city of Marawi was last year overrun by fighters loyal to the militants, triggering a battle that lasted for months and killed hundreds.
South-East Asia has booming economies and a growing number of people are adopting digital technology in their lives, raising fears that the region could also be the target of cyber attacks.
As he opened the Association of South-East Asian Nations summit in Singapore yesterday, Mr Lee said: “South-East Asia is at peace but these threats are very real. We need to be resilient with conventional threats, and non-conventional threats such as terrorism and cyber attacks.”
At a dinner on Friday, leaders agreed to increase co-ordination in cyber security.
Mr Lee also warned that the open global trading system, which has allowed many of the region’s export-driven economies to flourish, has come under increasing threat due to protectionist policies in major economies.
“The political mood in many countries has shifted against free trade,” he said. “In particular, the trade tensions between the US and China are worrying concerns.”
Washington and Beijing have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods, which analysts say could escalate into a global trade war and scupper global growth.
Mr Lee said the answer to such rising protectionism was for the bloc to push further for deeper integration of their economies and to bolster co-operation in other fields.
“Individually, the Asean member states will find it hard to make much impact on their own,” he said. “But when we speak in one collective Asean voice, we can be effective.”
The association’s members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.