SINGAPORE: As countries build their defence capabilities, it is important they signal to others what their intentions are, so as to prevent suspicion, Singapore’s Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing said.“If you have no capabilities, nobody's going to talk to you, and nobody's going to talk to you nicely. But if you have capabilities and you don't talk to people, it causes a lot of suspicions," he said on CNA’s Deep Dive podcast."Then people might be wondering what you're up to, and if people are suspicious of each other, what you do to make yourself feel more secure will make the other guy feel less secure, and you start taking actions.”
Every action has an opposite reaction, he added.
This is why events such as the Shangri-La Dialogue are important, because defence diplomacy is at work."What's the most important thing is to understand people deeply behind the scenes to ascertain the intentions, not just the capabilities … Because you can have capabilities, but it is your intention that matters," he said.It is important to partner with other nations, as this allows countries to compare notes and check for blind spots."If we just talk among ourselves, then we might convince ourselves. This is what they call the echo chamber effect."But when you look at it from a different perspective, and you say, talk to your friends, talk to your neighbours, people might have a slightly different perspective," said Mr Chan.Defence diplomacy is also about putting in place mechanisms that can hopefully avert conflicts or misunderstandings, he added."In a very complex world where people may not agree with one another, how do we maintain our value propositions to different partners? And these partners, they may or may not be able to work with one another, but we must be able to work with them," he said.This is why Singapore regularly sends people overseas and receives people here - to cultivate deep understanding and to detect subtle shifts."When people start to recalculate their positions, we must be there to know whether there are any shifts. Because if you don't, then your reaction time will be behind the curve."
