Singapore urges peaceful solution

Singapore urges peaceful solution

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore Defense Minister Tony Tan has urged rival claimants to the Spratly islands to resolve the dispute peacefully and prevent disruption of the region's booming economies.

"If claimant countries do not resolve their territorial problems peacefully, these overlapping territorial claims may result in conflict at sea and could also result in obstruction to freedom of navigation," Tan said in a speech on Saturday.

He was speaking at the commissioning of three new Singapore navy ships. His speech was reported in the Straits Times newspaper yesterday.

China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines claim part or all of the Spratlys, a potentially oil-rich cluster of isolated reefs in the South China sea. Security experts have warned it may become the next flashpoint in the region.

Freedom of navigation and access to sea lanes in the region were critical to Singapore's continued prosperity, especially since more than 85 percent of its trade was by sea, Tan said.