The West's role in Gaza conflict has angered the young in many countries: Ng Eng Hen

The West's role in the Gaza conflict has incensed the young in many countries around the world, and not just Muslims, Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said at a security forum in the US.

It risks radicalising another generation of would-be terrorists in Gaza and elsewhere, he added, pointing out that America also risks losing political support across the world.

Dr Ng made these comments on Wednesday (July 17) at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, during a chat with Foreign Policy magazine's editor-in-chief Ravi Agrawal.

The Defence Minister was responding to a question about what the mood was like among Muslims in Singapore and its neighbouring countries over the war in Gaza.

Dr Ng also touched on US-China relations and China's actions in Asia, where he called Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea "bad foreign policy", and said the country will have to find a way to undo it.

The Aspen Security Forum is a national security and foreign policy conference for professionals and officials in these fields.

Anger over Gaza

On the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Dr Ng was asked about the mood among Muslims in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in relation to the West's role in it.

He used one word to describe the mood — "anger".

He added that the anger was not confined to only Muslims, and was also prevalent among the young in many countries, including Singapore, who are particularly incensed about the violence and the fact that nothing seems to be done to stop it.

And he warned that the US could lose political support along with some of its soft power in the world because of this.

The anger among the young towards the situation in the Middle East is difficult for countries to address, whether they have Muslim populations or not, said the minister.

One of the effects of this is that it would likely have radicalised another generation of would-be terrorists in Gaza and elsewhere, Dr Ng said.

As an example, he pointed to the July 15 announcement by the Internal Security Department that two people in Singapore, including a 14-year-old boy, were issued restriction orders after they were found to be self-radicalised.

Dr Ng added the wider issue for the Middle East is that the Gaza conflict has made it difficult for the more progressive Arab states to resume ties with Israel as they seek to balance their interest against Iran.

He noted that the Abraham Accords — bilateral agreements that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed separately with Israel to normalise relations between the countries — have likely been upended as a result.

Bad foreign policy decision

Asked for his observations on China and its perspective on the world and how that affects its actions, Dr Ng said a lot of how it has acted over the past three decades makes sense, given its position.

For example, the extensive building of military facilities — including airbases and harbours on the reclaimed islands in the South China Sea, which have since been used to support its military and paramilitary forces — makes perfect strategic sense.

"From their point of view, (they would have said,) 'If I could do it, I would', and they did", said Dr Ng.

But he called this a bad foreign policy choice by China, even though it has allowed the Chinese to move forward their defence line several hundred kilometres beyond its land borders, despite an international arbitral tribunal ruling that China could not claim any territory or waters beyond some of its geographical features.

The 2016 ruling was the result of a case brought by the Philippines, a rival claimant to the ownership of part of the islands and reefs of the South China Sea, to determine the status of the islands and features under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Dr Ng also revealed that in his private conversations with the Chinese, they had said that China is not claiming all of the waters and features in the South China Sea, although this ran counter to their public pronouncements.

He was likely referring to the nine-dash line on Chinese maps of the South China Sea, which underpins China's claim to the ownership of up to 90 per cent of the disputed waters.

"How to roll back (the claims) is something that they (China) need to deal with," he said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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