Forum seeking ways to de-escalate regional tensions

- The SINGAPORE Philippines along with other nations - hopes to thresh out ways of de-escalating tensions in the South China Sea at a defense summit here to be keynoted by President Marcos, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said yesterday.

- HELEN FLORES

Also expected to attend today's 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's largest defense conference, are China's Minister of National Defense Admiral Dong Jun and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, among other key defense officials from various countries.

"Let me put forward that the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue is a vital venue to discuss and debate divergent positions on numerous issues, critical challenges, and emerging concerns," Teodoro said.

"Most important, however, we are all here to collectively manage, mitigate, and to reinvigorate the process of de-escalating regional and international tensions," he said, apparently referring to the country's spat with China over the latter's aggressiveness in asserting its claim in the South China Sea.

Marcos will deliver his keynote address at 8 pm. "For my part, with the Shangri-La Dialogue considered as one of the most significant security and defense gatherings in Asia, I will reiterate and discuss further the President's policies and pronouncements on security and defense matters during my engagements with various senior government officials, policymakers, scholars, and dialogue participants," Teodoro said.