‘Asean is no pushover’: top Singapore, Indonesia officials dismiss talk of choosing US-China sides

Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Luhut Pandjaitan agreed that the region could continue to walk the middle path between Washington and Beijing

Singapore’s Tharman said he expected US-China tensions to remain high regardless of who wins in November’s US presidential election

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Singapore’s Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Indonesia’s Luhut Pandjaitan see Asean continuing to walk the middle path between Beijing and Washington. Photo: AP

Published: 8:30pm, 25 Aug 2020Updated: 6:41pm, 12 Nov 2020

A pair of senior Southeast Asian officials on Tuesday dismissed rising talk that the region could soon be trapped into taking sides amid growing US-China rivalry, saying instead that the 10-member Asean bloc had significant leverage that it could use to advance its interests independently.

Speaking in a live-streamed panel discussion, Singapore’s Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Indonesia’s Luhut Pandjaitan struck the same note when asked if pressure was rising for the region to align itself with either superpower.

Luhut, the coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, said Indonesia, with its population of 273 million – of which around 50 to 55 million are part of the middle class – had a large enough domestic market without the United States and China.

“We are not a small country. Why should we take a side? We have a big market,” Luhut said in the forum organised by Standard Chartered Bank.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s coordinating minister for social policies, pictured at an event in 2018. Photographer: Bloomberg

Tharman, Singapore’s coordinating minister for social policies, said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ value to the US and China should not be overlooked.