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"Senior defence officials and military leaders gathered in Singapore on Saturday for the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, with the growing use of emerging technologies in warfare dominating discussions. Footage shows South Korean Minister of National Defence Ahn Gyu-Back addressing delegates, President Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste speaking during a special address, and senior military officials from Indonesia, Malaysia and other regional states attending high-level security meetings. The summit brought together representatives from ASEAN member states, China, the United States, NATO countries and several Global South nations amid ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and continuing tensions in the South China Sea. Ramos-Horta warned that modern wars were increasingly becoming conflicts of attrition that inflicted the greatest suffering on civilians. "No one is going to win in the battle front. It's a war of exhaustion, of ruining the whole country, its economy, and its people. The simple people, the farmers, the students, the youth are the ones suffering," Ramos-Horta explained. Security experts also warned about the expanding role of drones and artificial intelligence in modern warfare. Dr Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, Senior Fellow for Indo-Pacific Defence Policy, Economics and Industry of IISS, argued that technological advances had failed to reduce civilian suffering, and that the number of armed conflicts worldwide had risen significantly. "There's something we have to do to address the issue, not only of new technologies, but also curbing the combination of drones with artificial intelligence leading to autonomous weapons," she said. "I'm not asking for more money here. I'm asking for more peace because that's the only way to reduce the suffering in the environment that we find ourselves currently in," Beraud-Sudreau added. Delegates were seen attending panel discussions, applauding speakers and holding meetings on the sidelines of the forum. The Shangri-La Dialogue, held annually since 2002, is regarded as Asia's premier defence and security summit."
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