Wang Yi visit: Singapore pledges to work with China amid US overtures
- In a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong praised cooperation on the coronavirus and said the city state welcomed Beijing’s efforts to build a “harmonious and peaceful world”
- The Chinese diplomat addressed the US-China feud over the origins of Covid-19, telling a Singaporean official the row risked jeopardising recovery efforts
Wang’s two-day visit to the city state was the third stop in a tour of the region that has already taken in Cambodia and Vietnam.
“We reaffirmed the long-standing ties between our countries, and had a productive and candid discussion on international and regional developments,” Lee wrote on Facebook after meeting Wang in the presidential palace, the Istana.
“Despite challenging global circumstances in this pandemic, we have continued working closely, sharing resources and expertise to better manage the outbreak,” he said.
Wang’s visit also reflected China’s interest in pushing back against the recent US visits, said Charles Dunst, an associate with geopolitical risk firm Eurasia Group’s Global Macro practice. “China views Southeast Asia as its backyard and remains frustrated by the US’ continued presence there,” he said.
On Monday, Wang held talks with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
The Chinese foreign ministry said Wang had discussed pandemic cooperation during his meeting with Heng, and told the Singaporean official that “politicising the source of the virus and blaming others” would undermine international pandemic cooperation.
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Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor in the political science department at the National University of Singapore, said Wang’s remarks criticising vaccine nationalism seemed “to be a subtle jab at developed countries hoarding vaccines, even as much of Southeast Asia is suffering from high levels of infections”.
Beijing claims almost all of the resource-rich waters, but Asean countries with coastlines in the area – Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Indonesia – each say such claims transgress their rightful territorial waters. China says it has historic rights over the waters.
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During his visit to Vietnam, Wang told his counterparts that both countries needed to refrain from unilateral action in the sea that could complicate and magnify the row.
Loh, the academic, said one of the key priorities of Wang’s regional tour was trade. He suggested that Wang was there to say that China and Southeast Asian countries’ economies were closely intertwined, and that much of the region’s post-pandemic recovery would be shaped by Beijing.
Singapore and Vietnam key stops for China’s Wang Yi on Asian friendship tour
“A stable external economic environment and the relationships therein is critical as China tackles thorny domestic reforms and pushes forward with its dual circulation policy,” Loh said.
Separately, as part of a dialogue, defence officials from Singapore and China held a video conference on Tuesday, including China’s Deputy Chief of Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Shao Yuanming. Both sides reaffirmed warm defence relations and pledged to strengthen defence cooperation.
Still, Dunst of Eurasia Group suggested that Wang’s Southeast Asia visit, similar to those by Harris and Austin, would probably not move the needle as countries appreciated their ties with Beijing and Washington and were “extracting goods” from both.
The National University of Singapore’s Chong said given China’s emphasis on cooperation with Singapore and Asean and on the pandemic and vaccines, Beijing was showing that it was not putting pressure on the city state and the region.
“This may be somewhat in response to Harris’s comment that the US will not force countries to choose. It shows that Beijing too can be magnanimous,” he said.