January 22, 2025
SINGAPORE – The risk of the US cutting itself off from China is not high at this stage, given the “tremendous interdependencies” between both countries, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
And as long as they do not force others to pick sides, Singapore will be able to navigate the growing competition between them.
“If the United States were to cut itself off from China, it will be very damaging for the US economy and for American citizens,” PM Wong told students at a dialogue on Jan 21.
He added that much of what the US manufactures, produces and imports comes from China.
“I can’t see how a full decoupling can happen at this stage,” PM Wong said.
He was responding to a question on how Singapore will navigate its relationship with both superpowers, hours after Mr Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term as US president.
The dialogue was attended by close to 900 students from various educational institutions, with questions asked ranging from foreign policy to housing to social policy.
Held at the National University of Singapore’s University Cultural Centre, the session was organised by government feedback unit Reach and Varsity Voices, a student-led university initiative.
Elaborating on US-China relations, PM Wong said the issue is that both countries are in a competition for global leadership, with deep mistrust and suspicion on both sides.
While he believes neither side wants a direct conflict, competition will grow and there is the worry that things may go wrong, he added.
“Not just on the economics side, where potentially you may have more trade barriers, more technological decoupling,” PM Wong noted. “But even accidents and miscalculations that can happen around hot spots like the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.”
He said that Singapore has a “close partnership” with the US, citing areas of cooperation like defence and security, as well as cyber security, nuclear energy and outer space collaboration
“I am sure we can continue under the Trump presidency to strengthen that partnership,” he added.
“And so long as the two countries are able to manage the competition, and not force countries like Singapore… to choose sides, and then bifurcate the world into two blocs – the US bloc and the China bloc – we will be able to navigate this.”
Such a decoupling would be cataclysmic and take the world to “the brink of a third world war”, he added.
But the risk of this happening is not high, PM Wong said, adding that countries can find ways to manage the situation and reduce the risk of conflict.
“While the US and China continue to compete vigorously, the rest of us in the world who can shape and influence events, perhaps not to the same degree as US-China, can do our part to minimise the risk of an outright decoupling or an outright conflict from happening,” he added.
“Then, hopefully, we can manage the rivalry between the two superpowers, keep the peace in the world, and we can still have a reasonably good environment for us to continue thriving and flourishing,” he said.