ANKARA
A summit of Southeast Asian defense chiefs kicked off on Friday in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, with defense ministers from China, the United States, and India also in attendance, according to state-run media.
Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who chaired the 19th ASEAN Defence Ministers' meeting, urged Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to move beyond traditional military cooperation to address emerging and non-traditional threats that cross borders and dimensions, according to Malaysia's state-run news agency Bernama.
"Modern-day security challenges such as cyberattacks, misinformation, and digital manipulation now pose as great a danger as territorial disputes, requiring ASEAN to adopt technological foresight, cybersecurity collaboration, and shared innovation," he said.
ASEAN ministers will also convene the 12th ASEAN Defense Ministers-Plus meeting with dialogue partners from the US, China, Russia, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.
The meetings will continue until Sunday, as several defense ministers from dialogue partners, including the US and China, have already arrived in Kuala Lumpur.
During the opening session, the ASEAN defense chiefs also approved the largest number of initiatives in a single year.
"Whether on land, at sea, or in cyberspace, we cannot afford to ignore any front of our security anymore. Powerful non-state actors wield technology as a weapon to disrupt societies, topple governments, and undermine critical infrastructure through cyberattacks, misinformation, and digital manipulation," said the Malaysian defense minister.
He warned that if the member states fail to invest in these threats, they will fail to secure their future.