Asian defense chiefs urged efforts to protect the borders of smaller nations in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while balking at joining in on the broader US-China tussle.
Ministers of smaller nations such as Fiji and Singapore warned against framing the crisis as part of an ideological contest between autocracies and democracies as the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue wrapped up in Singapore. Earlier Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe hit back at the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which he blamed for pushing the two sides toward confrontation.
