We are 'pro-Singapore': DPM Lawrence Wong on standing between the US and China
SINGAPORE — As the United States and China seek out a new equilibrium in their relationship, Singapore must brace itself for possibly a decade or more of unpredictability, and hopefully help steer global events towards peace, rather than war, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
In an interview with The Economist magazine on May 6, he said the Republic is neither pro-China nor pro-America, but «pro-Singapore».
DPM Wong said the global order is shifting, and the transition will be messy because while America's unipolar moment has ended, it remains a pre-eminent power in a world that will have more than one major power.
«China certainly looks at the US as trying to contain, encircle, and suppress them, and trying to deny them their rightful place in the world,» he said in a transcript released by the Ministry of Communications and Information on May 8.
It is not just the leadership that thinks like that, but a lot of Chinese officials, noted DPM Wong, who will take over as Singapore's fourth prime minister on May 15.