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Singapore’s Foreign Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: Russian-Ukrainian Crisis Threatens World Order

Foreign Minister of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan
Foreign Minister of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan
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Singapore’s Foreign Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: Russian-Ukrainian Crisis Threatens World Order

Foreign Minister of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan
Foreign Minister of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that the Russian attack on Ukraine was a “great threat to the world order,” warning at the same time against the US-Chinese tension over Taiwan.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Balakrishnan stressed that the continuation of the Russian attack on Ukraine constituted a major threat to the world order and a blatant violation of international law.

The invasion sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the security and existence of many countries, especially small countries like Singapore, the minister emphasized.

Ukraine Crisis

On the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis on the economic, financial and food situation in the world and Singapore in particular, the minister said that the war would harm supply chains and obstruct post-pandemic economic recovery efforts.

“It is of great concern to countries in Asia, where stable and resilient supply chains are critical to ensuring the continued flow of essential goods, such as food and medical supplies,” Balakrishnan said, stressing the need for countries to work together to ensure that international trade remains smooth, predictable, open and reliable.

Tension between Beijing and Washington

Balakrishnan warned against the deepening division between the United States and China, and the risk of a real and growing mishap or miscalculation between the two countries.

He underlined the need for the two leaderships to maintain communication, especially at the highest level, in order to reach a temporary settlement and to prevent war.

Stable relations between the United States and China are vital to regional and international peace and prosperity, he remarked.

Relations with Saudi Arabia

The foreign minister said that Singaporean-Saudi relations were accelerating towards digital and technological integration, including the expansion of cooperation in many fields, including trade, investment, and education.

The Kingdom is Singapore’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East, as bilateral trade exceeded $6.8 billion in 2021, the minister told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Balakrishnan praised Saudi Arabia’s rapid and dynamic development within the framework of the ambitious Vision 2030 agenda.

In this regard, the minister pointed to the launch of the Saudi-Singapore Joint Committee (SSJC) in December 2021, which he said constituted a major cooperation platform in the fields of transport, logistics, digital economy and energy.

He added that the committee would seek to face future challenges posed by the climate change, with Saudi Arabia adopting the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2060 and Singapore by 2050.

“With the launch of digital finance in both Singapore and Saudi Arabia, we are discussing a memorandum of cooperation to strengthen partnership in the areas of digital economy, emerging technologies and e-government, which will be signed soon,” the minister revealed.

He added that his country was pleased that Saudi Arabia has adopted the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) developed by Singapore, highlighting “the aspects of integration between our national strategy for artificial intelligence, and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”

Balakrishnan also told Asharq Al-Awsat that his country was keen to strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia in artificial intelligence, including digitally enabled services and smart cities.

“We also look forward to strong cooperation in the field of cyber-security,” he emphasized.

The Joint Committee: A platform for cooperation between the two countries

The minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore said that the Saudi-Singapore Joint Committee (SSJC) was vital platform to discuss concrete projects and strengthen economic ties across a variety of sectors.

The idea of the committee was raised by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, during the state visit of President Halimah Yacob to Riyadh in November 2019.

The minister announced that his country would host the second session of the SSJC later this year, hoping to expand cooperation to include vital sectors such as green economy and digital fields, in addition to tackling emerging challenges, opportunities for cooperation and contribution to development goals, and attracting Saudi companies to benefit from Singapore as a gateway to Asia.

Energy cooperation

Balakrishnan highlighted his country’s keenness to expand energy cooperation with Riyadh, stressing that the Kingdom was a global power and a key player in the energy sector.

“In December 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the energy sector for cooperation in areas such as energy efficiency and conservation, as well as building capacity in low-carbon technologies, such as hydrogen and carbon capture, use and storage,” he stated.

The Minister indicated that both Saudi Arabia and Singapore were aware of the importance of collective action within the international community, to address climate change and improve sustainability.

He noted in this regard that the two countries joined the Global Methane Pledge - which seeks to collectively reduce global methane emissions across all sectors by at least 30 percent by 2030 – during their participation in the 26-COP conference in Glasgow in November 2021.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.