A SENIOR Singapore minister has attacked Asian countries which benefit from open markets, but which ignore international rules on free trade.
'You can't have your cake and eat it too,' Yeo Cheow Tong, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry said last week.
'If we all depend on external trade then anything that jeopardises that system is not in our long-term interests.
'That's the same position in every country in the region. They are dependent on the global market.
'That's how economies in the region develop, they are all export oriented, including Malaysia.' Mr Yeo praised neighbouring countries which had embraced free trade, and mentioned Indonesian President Suharto's championing of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation body during last year's Bogor summit.
He attacked the hypocrisy of countries which tried to link Asian values, of which Singapore is a strong champion, to economics.
'Economic systems and values are entirely different,' said Mr Yeo.
