SINGAPORE (March 1): Singapore risks
being “coerced” into choosing between the US or China as the two powers jostle
for influence in Asia, according to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"If America-China relations become
very difficult our position becomes tougher because then we will be coerced to
choose between being friends with America and friends with China," Lee
said in an interview with BBC’s “HARDtalk” that aired on Wednesday. “And that’s
a real worry.”
“Right now we are friends with both, not
that we don’t have issues with either, but we are generally friends with both
and the relationships are in good working order.”
For decades Singapore, an open economy
reliant on trade and investment, has walked a careful line between the US and
China, seeking to build economic ties with both while supporting a greater US
military presence in the region as a buffer to China’s expansionism, especially
in the South China Sea.
Lee has warned previously that smaller
countries in Southeast Asia do not want to have to pick a side, even as he said
competition between major powers is unavoidable.
‘Sustained Attention’
“I think the relations always require
close and sustained attention on both sides and I am sure that the Chinese side
do that,” he told the BBC. “On the American side I hope that they will have
that attention because on the American side you’ve got many other issues to
worry about — Europe, the Middle East, Ukraine, Latin America.”
“And unless you focus on this
relationship, both the win-win aspects as well as the areas where you are in
contention, it can go wrong.”
Singapore has found itself caught up in
tensions with both countries in recent times. China has publicly chastised it
for a perceived alignment with the US against China’s actions in the South
China Sea, with the American Navy using the island-state as a launch point for
patrols of the strategic Malacca Strait. Singapore is not a claimant in the
South China Sea.
The government also spent weeks seeking
the release of nine Singaporean armored personnel carriers that were seized by
Hong Kong customs in November, with the vehicles en route from Taiwan on a
commercial ship after being used in training exercises.
Issues, Incidents
“I wouldn’t say we have major problems,
we’ve had some issues and some incidents,” Lee said of Singapore’s relationship
with China.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan met
this week in Beijing with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, where they discussed
ways to support China’s “One Belt One Road" infrastructure push in
Southeast Asia. Wang affirmed China’s commitment to work with the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea, with
the aim of a framework agreement by mid-year, Balakrishnan’s office said in a
statement.
Singapore has also seen changes under the
new US administration. It has been a vocal advocate of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact that was led by the US and touted as a
hallmark of Barack Obama’s economic and strategic focus on Asia. But in one of
his first acts as president, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal.
Trade Questions
Lee had warned last August that US
credibility was on the line over the pact. And speaking to the BBC, he noted
Singapore was heavily reliant on trade. “We participate actively in the WTO and
we have depended on the system which America has built and upheld to maintain
an open global intercourse of trade, commerce, investments and finances.”
“We were disappointed by that because we
all spent a long time negotiating it, it was a hard won deal,” Lee said of
Trump’s withdrawal from the TPP. If there was consensus among the remaining 11
countries to go ahead without the US, Singapore would sign, but he said he was
not sure that was a realistic prospect. “It’s not so easy to achieve.”
“America is a reality, it’s still a great
power, I think this has put a dent in the degree to which people can be
confident of America’s policies, but it has happened and we have to live with
it,” Lee said. “There is a new mood in America, President Trump reflects that,
and we’ll have to watch carefully what policies he pursues.”