Singapore to push for deeper ASEAN integration, wider partnerships as bloc chair in 2027: Vivian Balakrishnan

Speaking at the Milken Institute Asia Summit, the Foreign Affairs Minister also discussed navigating the US-China rivalry and warned of the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI agents

Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan speaking at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2026 on Oct 7, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Mak Jia Kee)

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SINGAPORE: Singapore will push for deeper economic integration within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and wider partnerships beyond the region when it takes over as chair in 2027, said Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Wednesday (Oct 7).

He was responding to a question at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore, where Dr Balakrishnan was asked what Singapore would consider as a successful ASEAN chairmanship.

“If our economy within ASEAN continues to grow, continues to be more and more integrated, and if our respective strengths, say in energy and technology, could really be brought to a complementary where the whole is more than the sum of the parts, we would have succeeded,” he said.

"The more we can raft our economies, the better it is to cope with high waves and strong winds," said Dr Balakrishnan to an audience of enterprise and business leaders at the Four Seasons Hotel.

On ASEAN seeking wider partnerships, he said this would go beyond the 10-member bloc’s traditional dialogue partners, to include regions such as Africa, South America, Pacific Islands and Canada as well in what he described as a “trans-Pacific strategy”.

The dialogue was moderated by the chief executive officer of the Milken Institute, Mr Richard Ditizio. The annual event, now in its 13th edition, brought together leaders in business, finance, government, technology and entertainment, with an expected turnout of 1,500 participants from 50 countries.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung will also be speaking on a panel on Thursday with Milken Institute Women's Health Network Jill Biden, who is the former US first lady from 2021 to 2025 .

During the dialogue, Dr Balakrishnan said that despite the breakdown in trade and disruption in supply chains globally , ASEAN is still seeing significant growth, driven by artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and technology.

He cited the high economic growth rates recorded by Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia, adding that the region still has “great growth potential in the next 20 years”.

"This is a moment of great potential and peril. This is a moment of great change and volatility," he said.

“And if we can thread the needle, and not just for Singapore but for ASEAN as a whole, I think we've got quite a compelling narrative and great potential for ASEAN.”

Singapore is already a key node in the global semiconductor supply chain, accounting for about one in 10 chips made worldwide. Last month, VSMC, a joint venture by Taiwanese and Dutch firms , opened an S$8.5 billion wafer fabrication plant in Singapore, as growing demand for semiconductors is fuelled by developments including AI, electrification and industrial automation.

During the dialogue, he also addressed the growing US-China rivalry and said Singapore would seek to maintain trust with both powers and "handle our relationships very, very carefully".

"As far as we can do so, we will refuse to choose because the moment you choose, in fact, you've lost strategic options," he said. ASEAN is currently chaired by the Philippines on a yearly rotating basis. It is expected to host a summit next month where its conclusion is typically marked by a ceremonial handing over of chairmanship to the next chair.

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"LOSS OF CONTROL IS A REAL THREAT"

Dr Balakrishnan, who had experimented with building his own AI agents using open-source tools , spoke about the risks posed by the technology.

"I have spent enough time building, interacting and using agents to tell you that we have a real problem," he said.

"Anyone who tells you I've got absolute control over my autonomous agent and I know exactly everything it's going to do or not do, obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. Loss of control is a real threat."

As such, rogue state and non-state actors could use the technology to develop new weapons of mass destruction, including in chemistry and biology, he said.

Dr Balakrishnan’s statement echoed recent warnings by other leaders as well as chief executives of AI-related companies about the risks posed by AI to humanity.

Anthropic, the company behind frontier AI model Claude, submitted US bourse filings that advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" last month.

Leaders from Anthropic, OpenAI and HuggingFace on Sep 23 briefed the United Nations (UN) Security Council that increasingly powerful AI systems could soon improve themselves, slip beyond human control and pose a threat to international security.

Also in September, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong joined more than 20 other world leaders to urge companies, nations and UN member states to implement AI safety measures.

Giving his personal reflections on the matter of AI on Wednesday , Dr Balakrishnan said that the technology reflects the flaws and biases of the material it is trained on.

"If we train our agents on the entire corpus of stuff which has been published on the internet, and most of the stuff on the internet is violent, misogynistic, unfair, crazy, and then you are surprised that your AI agents are a reflection of humanity," said Dr Balakrishnan.

"Now that can either be very scary, or it should be a moment of great contemplation."

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外交部长在米尔肯研究院亚洲峰会上发表讲话时，还讨论了如何应对美中竞争，并警告了日益自主的人工智能代理所带来的风险。

外交部长维文·巴拉克里希南于2026年10月7日在米尔肯研究院2026年亚洲峰会上发表讲话。（图片：CNA/麦嘉琪）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：新加坡外交部长维文·巴拉克里希南周三（10月7日）表示，新加坡将在2027年担任东盟轮值主席国时，推动东盟内部更深层次的经济一体化，并寻求与区域外更广泛的伙伴关系。

在新加坡举行的米尔肯研究院亚洲峰会上，有人向巴拉克里希南博士提问，新加坡认为怎样的东盟轮值主席国才算成功。

他说：“如果我们的经济在东盟内部继续增长，继续不断一体化，如果我们各自的优势，比如在能源和技术领域的优势，能够真正互补，使整体大于部分之和，那么我们就成功了。”

“我们越能让我们的经济更加稳固，就越能更好地应对巨浪和强风，”巴拉克里希南博士在四季酒店对一群企业和商业领袖说道。

关于东盟寻求更广泛的伙伴关系，他表示，这将超越东盟10个成员国的传统对话伙伴，将非洲、南美洲、太平洋岛屿和加拿大等地区纳入其中，他称之为“跨太平洋战略”。

此次对话由米尔肯研究院首席执行官理查德·迪蒂齐奥先生主持。这项年度盛会今年已是第十三届，汇聚了来自商业、金融、政府、科技和娱乐界的领袖人物，预计将有来自50个国家的1500名参与者出席。

卫生部长王乙康将于周四与米尔肯研究所女性健康网络负责人吉尔·拜登（2021年至2025年担任美国第一夫人）一同出席一个小组讨论会。

在对话中，巴拉克里希南博士表示，尽管全球贸易中断、供应链中断，但东盟在人工智能、半导体和技术的推动下，仍然实现了显著增长。

他列举了越南、新加坡和印度尼西亚的高经济增长率，并补充说，该地区在未来20年仍然具有“巨大的增长潜力”。

“这是一个充满潜力和危险的时刻。这是一个充满变革和动荡的时刻，”他说。

“如果我们能够找到合适的切入点，不仅对新加坡，而且对整个东盟来说，我认为我们就拥有了一个非常有说服力的故事，以及东盟的巨大潜力。”

新加坡已是全球半导体供应链的关键节点，全球约十分之一的芯片产自新加坡。上个月，台湾和荷兰企业合资成立的VSMC在新加坡开设了一座价值85亿新元的晶圆制造厂。人工智能、电气化和工业自动化等发展趋势推动了半导体需求的增长。

在对话中，他还谈到了日益加剧的美中竞争，并表示新加坡将寻求与这两个大国保持信任，并“非常非常谨慎地处理我们之间的关系”。

他说：“只要我们能做到，我们就会拒绝做出选择，因为一旦做出选择，实际上就失去了战略选择权。”东盟目前由菲律宾轮值担任主席国。预计下个月将举行峰会，峰会结束时通常会举行主席国交接仪式。

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“失控是一个真正的威胁”

巴拉克里希南博士曾尝试使用开源工具构建自己的人工智能代理，他谈到了这项技术带来的风险。

“我花了足够的时间来构建、交互和使用代理，我可以告诉你，我们确实遇到了一个问题，”他说。

“任何声称自己完全掌控自主代理，并且确切知道它将要做什么或不做什么的人，显然都不懂他在说什么。失去控制是一个真正的威胁。”

他表示，因此，流氓国家和非国家行为体可能会利用这项技术开发新的大规模杀伤性武器，包括化学和生物武器。

巴拉克里希南博士的声明与近期其他领导人以及人工智能相关公司首席执行官对人工智能给人类带来的风险的警告相呼应。

开发前沿人工智能模型 Claude 的公司 Anthropic 上个月向美国证券交易所提交文件称，先进的人工智能可能会给人类带来“灾难性或生存性风险”。

9 月 23 日，Anthropic、OpenAI 和 HuggingFace 的领导人向联合国安理会通报，日益强大的 AI 系统可能很快就会自我改进，脱离人类控制，并对国际安全构成威胁。

同样在9月，总理黄循财与其他20多位世界领导人一起敦促企业、国家和联合国成员国实施人工智能安全措施。

巴拉克里希南博士周三就人工智能问题发表了个人看法，他表示，这项技术反映了它所训练的材料的缺陷和偏见。

“如果我们用互联网上发布的所有内容来训练我们的智能体，而互联网上的大部分内容都是暴力的、厌女的、不公平的、疯狂的，那么你就会惊讶地发现，你的人工智能智能体反映了人性，”巴拉克里希南博士说。

“这要么会让人非常害怕，要么会成为一个值得深思的时刻。”

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