Singapore's defense minister has said there is a firm basis for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations helping to resolve disputes involving several of its member states and China in the South China Sea, "a critical waterway for international trade."
"The Chinese would prefer individual nations, claimant states, to settle their claims bilaterally, and they have said openly and in that respect for ASEAN to stay out of it," Ng Eng Hen told reporters, noting that Beijing has similarly cautioned non-ASEAN countries like the United States not to involve themselves.
"But for ASEAN and other countries, there is no ignoring that fact that the South China Sea is an international waterway," he said, speaking in a group interview Tuesday on the occasion of Singapore Armed Forces Day.