Restraint is the buzzword at an annual meeting of Asia-Pacific diplomats.
With a huge pack of journalists, photographers and TV crews scrambling over diplomats from 27 countries in the lobby of Singapore's swank Shangri-La Hotel, the rule-obsessed government of Singapore on Wednesday issued a stern advisory to the media: Behave!
Just days after the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations urged Cambodia and Thailand to show "utmost restraint" in their border dispute, Singapore repeated the warning as it admonished the media for jeopardizing the safety of delegates and hotel guests.
"In one instance, a senior member of a visiting delegation was accidentally hit with a video camera by a photojournalist while in another, a child was almost trampled on by a group of media personnel chasing some delegates into a lift," the statement said.
"While we fully appreciate the role of the media and understand that these incidents were the result of actions by a few, we nevertheless cannot condone behavior that places the safety of delegates, hotel guests, the media and hotel assets in jeopardy," it said.
"We therefore strongly urge the media to exercise restraint, comply with the requests of conference officials and above all, respect the need for public safety."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov could not hold back his frustration Wednesday when he was mobbed as he strolled into the lobby to talk to Russian media.
"Singaporeans are very polite people. Can you leave me alone please? You irritate me," he told the crowd of journalists.
But it appeared the message had fallen on deaf ears.
A minor scuffle broke out Wednesday between Singapore security personnel and a TV crew from Japan's NHK television amid a media jostle to try get comments from North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun as he headed for six-nation nuclear talks.
An NHK cameraman was pushed on the floor by a plainclothes security escort amid the shoving, and one of his colleagues had his media pass taken away after he used his long boom mike to protect the cameraman, hitting a security personnel on his cheek.
Meanwhile, U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill, a popular target, managed a quiet dinner Tuesday in a down-market food court nearby.
Shangri-La General Manager, Thierry Douin, said that safety of hotel guests and employees remains a top priority.
When delegates, media and guests meet in a public area, "it is our duty to protect the guests' safety in a calm and orderly manner," he told The Associated Press.
Security has been bolstered, with more diplomats crossing the hotel's plush lobby under escort, especially after the arrival late Tuesday of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
A big group of journalists awaited Rice's arrival in the lobby, where U.S. security men swarmed beside a red carpet. Many failed get a glimpse of the popular American diplomat _ she quietly passed through a side door.
