Suave soldiers steal the show at Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore with creative spin on ‘man in finance’ TikTok trend

Video featuring stylish military personnel from around the world attending military summit earns 1.2 million views in one day
Online users engaging in lively debate over which country’s personnel are the most dashing

Singapore

Kimberly Lim

Published: 2:35pm, 3 Jun 2024

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A TikTok clip of suave military men attending this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore has sparked a buzz online and revealed a lighter side to the key military summit, which has spawned a creative spin on the viral “looking for a man in finance” trend.

Featuring decorated uniformed personnel from across the globe striking various poses against a beat-heavy pop track with the lyrics “I’m looking for a man in defence, in uniform, 5’9, nice eyes”, the 18-second clip has garnered more than 1.2 million views and 106,000 likes in one day.

“Whichever intern came up with this deserves a raise,” declared one user. “So you’re telling me I should be hanging out near the Shangri La conference,” mused another.

The video, which showcased dashing officials in medal-adorned uniforms from Oman, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Germany, China and the Philippines, also sparked a lively discussion on which country boasted the most dashing personnel.

The video was posted on the third and final day of the summit, which ran from May 31 to June 2. The talks were dominated by the intensifying US-China rivalry, the South China Sea territorial dispute and war in the Middle East, among other more serious issues. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s surprise stop at the forum also became a highlight.

Some of the military officers featured in the TikTok video. Photo: TikTok/ @mindefsg

The political spotlight was on Chinese defence chief Dong Jun and his American counterpart Lloyd Austin, who met on the sidelines of the dialogue on the first day.

Just hours after Austin and Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto talked about the war in Ukraine in separate speeches, Zelensky delivered a passionate plea to delegates, urging them to attend a coming Swiss-led peace summit aimed at building on his 10-point peace plan.

Sunday marked the conclusion of the 21st edition of the dialogue, which was held at the Shangri-La Singapore Hotel in the heart of the city state’s glitzy Orchard Road shopping stretch.

The security forum is held annually by the International Institute of Strategic Studies and serves as a platform for public officials, business leaders and defence experts to talk about security-related issues.