East Timor
Singapore open to sending troops
Australian minister quotes Hsien Loong as saying request has to
come from the beleaguered country. The Australian.
Jun 8, 2006
SINGAPOREAN Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will consider sending
troops to help stabilise East Timor as soon as he gets a formal
request from the East Timorese Government.
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson raised the possibility of
Singaporean troops going to East Timor in private talks with Mr Lee
in Singapore at the weekend.
Singaporean troops would be highly sought after because of their
high level of equipment, training, discipline and expertise.
However, sending ethnic Chinese troops into a territory adjacent to
Indonesia would be acutely sensitive with Jakarta. It is believed
the Singaporean and Indonesian governments have been discussing
this issue.
Mr Lee gave strong backing to Australia's role in East Timor, where
it is leading the multinational mission to restore peace.
"I think you have to do it," he told The Australian. "It's in your
backyard."
However, he said Singapore would need a formal invitation from the
East Timorese Government before sending troops. "They are the
authority, they have the sovereign power."
Singapore sent troops to East Timor as part of the Interfet mission
after the vote for independence in 1999.
"This time, we have not been asked (by the East Timorese
Government) so the issue is hypothetical," Mr Lee said. "If the
situation comes up, we will consider the matter."
It is believed Singaporean troops are at the top of the list of
possible Southeast Asian contributions to the force in East
Timor.
Mr Lee said that while foreign troops had a key role to play in
restoring calm to the new country, the problem must ultimately be
solved by the East Timorese.
"This is not a problem that can be solved by outside forces. It is
a problem within East Timor, among East Timorese. They have to sort
it out among themselves."
Mr Lee will visit Sydney and Canberra over several days from next
Tuesday. It is his first visit to Australia as Prime
Minister.
Mr Lee signalled one area of disagreement with Canberra, saying he
was disappointed at the decision to exclude Singapore Airlines from
routes to the US from Australia.
He said this decision was economically and strategically harmful to
Australia and a sign that Qantas, which lobbied against the
changes, had too much influence.
However, on other strategic questions, Mr Lee's views are
consistent with those of John Howard, including the importance of
the US not quitting Iraq before the job is done.
"If they quit in Iraq the price will be very high," he said.
"This is different from leaving Vietnam, where the Vietnamese just
stay in Vietnam. If you leave Iraq, your enemies will follow you
all over the world."
The Australian
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