SINGAPORE: Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam spoke on Wednesday (Mar 8) on the Russia-Ukraine war's implications and outlook for Southeast Asia. He was giving the closing keynote speech for a workshop organised by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute think-tank. Read his speech in full:
One question that comes up repeatedly – did the US promise not to expand NATO eastwards? The “not one inch” point.In 1990, as the Cold War was ending and the Berlin Wall fell, the US and USSR were discussing how to reunify Germany.
Less than two weeks later, then-US Secretary of State, James Baker, also raised this with the Soviet Foreign Minister, and President Gorbachev. However, notwithstanding these discussions, non-expansion – both as it applied to East Germany, and Eastern Europe as a whole – was not set out into the Treaty on the Final Settlement which the USSR signed in September 1990 with East and West Germany, France, the UK, and the US.
But the Clinton Administration, which came after the Bush Administration, saw the not one inch eastward as “fairly ambiguous” because it had not been precisely defined. If we pause there and reflect: Could Russian concerns have been better handled? If you lived in the Baltics, Poland, or any of these countries, it is entirely understandable that you might want to be part of NATO. They have bitter history which justified their fears. But I think it is also fair to say that there was a significant responsibility to deal with Russia’s security concerns, even as NATO decided on enlargement.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ukraine has brought back 307 children from Russia-occupied territoriesAuthorities estimate more than 16,000 children have been deported to Russia since the start of the war in 2022. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »
China says it has not supplied weapons to Russia; invisible hand behind continuing Ukraine crisisForeign Minister Qin Gang says China has been advocating for peace talks, but its efforts have been repeatedly undermined. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »
Ukraine fights on in Bakhmut, seeing chance to break Russia's attack forceUkraine seems convinced Russia’s losses in trying to storm Bakhmut are greater than its own. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »
Russia would get 'open road' into Ukraine if Bakhmut falls: ZelenskyThe battle for Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest in Russia’s year-long invasion that has displaced millions. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »
Russia vows to capture Bakhmut, push further into UkraineKYIV: The Russian army vowed on Tuesday (Mar 7) to capture the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, a move that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said would give Moscow an 'open road' for offensives deeper into his country. The intense fighting in the east raged on as United Nations chief Antonio Guterres headed
Read more »
Ukraine moves to fortify embattled Bakhmut as Russia closes inKYIV — Ukraine pledged on Monday (March 6) to bolster its defences in frontline Bakhmut, after reports that Kyiv was withdrawing from the city that has become a symbolic prize in the war.
Read more »