Asia-Pacific nations must renew their efforts to form a coherent and collaborative response to the region's complex security risks and its inherent potential for instability, senior delegates at a high-level regional forum say.
Food and energy security, ethnic conflicts, insurgencies and rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula were key issues discussed at the 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore last weekend. Some 320 delegates from 28 nations -- including defense ministers, military and intelligence chiefs, and prominent figures from the private sector -- attended the summit.
North Korea's unprovoked torpedoing of the Cheonan, a South Korean corvette, in late-March -- which resulted in the loss of 46 sailors and caused a significant escalation in tensions between the two countries -- was seen as one of the most significant threats to regional stability.