Singapore relationship with UK is ‘one of certainty’ amid global disruptions: Melvyn Ong

(Photo credit: ST Photo/Chong Jun Liang)

Source: The Straits Times

The Republic’s relationship with the United Kingdom is one of certainty as “the world around us loses their heads”, said permanent secretary for defence development Melvyn Ong.

Amid the geopolitical uncertainties and the disruptions in the world, it is important to try to find this in relationships, said Mr Ong at the opening of a defence industry trade show on board the UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales.

Mr Ong, a former defence chief, said: “The certainty in our relationship with the UK is one such thing that we continue to rely on, and the fact that we’re able to stand here, as the world around us loses their heads, is testimony to abiding friendship and abiding relationships and abiding trust.”

Some 30 UK businesses were gathered in the cavernous hangar of the 284m-long vessel – the flagship of a multinational UK-led strike group, which docked at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre on June 23.

The group is on an eight-month deployment to ensure the stability of the Indo-Pacific called Operation Highmast, which departed from Britain in April, with the ships sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Also speaking at the opening, the British Minister of State for Defence, Lord Vernon Coaker, said the carrier’s hangar makes an ideal setting to showcase some of the UK’s and Singapore’s world-leading technology and the innovation of their defence companies.

This event falls in the same month that the UK published a strategic defence review, which named Singapore as a key partner, he noted.

He said: “(This) reflects our commitment to developing our defence cooperation and interoperability as Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) partners. The review makes clear that our policy of Nato first does not mean Nato only.”

Singapore and the UK, along with Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia, are members of the FPDA, which will convene for the annual Bersama Lima drills in September. The HMS Prince of Wales is scheduled to join the exercise – the first aircraft carrier to do so since 1997.

The visit is a rare opportunity for the industry and new technology companies to represent themselves, said Mr Marcus Ralphs, enterprise commercial lead for Whitespace, an artificial intelligence (AI) company whose technology is being used on the HMS Prince of Wales.

The company provides an AI platform for organisations with higher security needs, like militaries.

The visit is hugely valuable to show that UK and Singapore industry players can partner effectively not just as individual companies but also collectively, he said on the sidelines of the event.

Ms Natasha Pheiffer, regional managing director for British multinational aerospace, defence and security company BAE Systems, said the company is very pleased to contribute to the carrier strike group’s deployment and the visit to Singapore.

She said: “With world-class equipment across the fleet, we had the opportunity to promote our capability to our colleagues and friends in Singapore and beyond.”

British Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle said at the sidelines of the event that the UK is here to show its partners around the world that British companies are available for them to partner with as well.

He said: “When you look at the global economy, the high growth sectors: space automation, AI, health technology, climate technology, drones – these are all areas where Singapore has real expertise, and Britain is leading the world in many of these areas. So there are some great opportunities for us to come together and fully seize the moment.”

Some work is already being done ahead of the drills in September.

Speaking to the media at a doorstop earlier that day, the commander of the carrier strike group, Commodore James Blackmore, said he is meeting senior leaders from the Republic of Singapore Navy on this visit.

He said: “We increasingly recognise that as we go forward, the two navies need to be able to operate together.”

Some preparations are happening during this deployment, he added.

This will allow the two countries to bring their navies together when the carrier is back for Bersama Lima, he said.

He said: “That’s where we’ll see all of those five navies coming together, and air forces, and working seamlessly during that exercise, that then gives us the confidence that we know we can all dock in and work together.”

The carrier is set to leave Singapore on June 29.