Singapore’s Lawrence Wong says Xi-Biden meeting is start of a ‘long and difficult’ journey
- Deputy PM Lawrence Wong cautioned about assuming relations could change ‘overnight’ after years of ‘deep suspicions and distrust’ between China and US
- The city state has ties to both, allowing US to bolster presence in region via access to military facilities, while relying on China as a top trading partner
Singapore’s prime minister-in-waiting said this week’s meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was “a good start”, but the fundamentals between the competing economies had not changed.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, 49, said in an interview with Bloomberg News that the meeting between the two leaders was “important and constructive”, but also “just the beginning of a long and difficult journey”.
“We shouldn’t have any illusions that this one meeting has changed things overnight because there has been such deep suspicions and distrust built up over so many years,” he said.
Singapore has been increasingly vocal in Asia as US-China ties worsened over the years, calling for both countries to avoid a clash that could economically hit smaller countries. The city state is clearly wedged between the two, allowing the US to bolster its presence in the region through access to military facilities, while counting on China as its top trading partner.
Xi-Biden talks: Taiwan is still the big red line in China-US relations
Wong said communication between US and China needed to continue at all levels, including between military, and not just at the top levels.
“Everyone is saying the right things, but manoeuvring for maximum advantage and that’s not helpful because accidents can happen, miscalculations can happen,” he said.
That dynamic has only become more complicated as ties between Washington and Beijing have soured on everything from trade to technology, and over Taiwan in particular. The Biden administration has meanwhile stepped up engagement in Southeast Asia to reassure nations that it can be trusted as an indispensable security partner.
