Break the vicious cycle, Singapore tells South China Sea rivals

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivers his keynote address of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Edgar Su

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's prime minister called on countries on Friday 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, Lee Hsien Loong also warned of the threat of Islamic State militancy in Southeast 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.