REINFORCING UN’S FOUNDATION ROLE
In his statement, Dr Balakrishnan also emphasised the need to reinforce the foundational role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security.
“We must return to the basics – by reinforcing the foundational role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security … We must restore respect for the rule of law and the UN Charter,” he said.
This has underpinned global peace and security for the last 80 years, he added.
“We cannot allow recent violations of international law to become normalised,” he said, adding that the war in Ukraine was a “flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter”.
The invasion of one country by another, under the pretext of historical errors and grievances, cannot be justified by any means, he said.
“If we allow the notion that ‘might is right’ to prevail, the world will become a very dangerous place, especially for small states,” said the foreign affairs minister.
That is why Singapore and other small states have to consistently stand for compliance with, by all member states with international law and the UN Charter, he added.
“We as a small state, have no interest in taking sides or getting embroiled in great power rivalry. We do not want to become an arena for proxy wars,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
“We simply aim to defend our sovereignty, to exercise our autonomy, and to chart our own futures – our people deserve that.”
This is why small states like Singapore have always been “ardent advocates” for international law and the UN Charter, he added.
“For small states, multilateralism and international law is not an option; it is in fact an existential necessity,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
