SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on countries today (May 29) to break the “vicious cycle” of the South China Sea row, as the United States and China exchanged increasingly angry barbs over reclaimed islands in the disputed waterway.

Inaugurating Asia’s biggest security forum, the Shangri-La Dialogue, Mr Lee also warned of the threat of Islamic State militancy in South-east Asia and said it was not inconceivable that the ultra-radicals could establish a base in the region physically under their control, like in Syria or Iraq.

Just hours before Mr Lee spoke, the Pentagon said China had placed mobile artillery weapons systems on a reclaimed island in the South China Sea.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter, who is to address the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue tomorrow, has called for a halt to the reclamation work, saying it was out of step with the regional consensus.

Admiral Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of China’s People’s Liberation Army, will speak the following day.

Read more: http://m.todayonline.com/world/break-vicious-cycle-singapore-tells-south-china-sea-rivals