'More than one best friend': PM Lee says China will benefit if it can co-prosper with Asia

SINGAPORE — With it being the biggest trading partner of nearly every Asian country, China will really benefit if it is able to co-prosper with the countries around it, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday (Oct 5).

China is a growing strength in the region and a great opportunity for the countries in the region to co-operate with, to trade with, to invest in and to do business with, he said.

But every country still wants to keep its links with the rest of the world, and wants Asia to be a region which is open, "because you would like to have more than one best friend", he added.

"In Asia, China is a very good friend, and America has been a friend for a long time," said PM Lee.

He was responding to a question at a dialogue during the inaugural Asia Future Summit on how China's arrival as a Pacific power — when for many years it was just the United States — changes the relationship between China and the countries in Asia and Asean.

Whether China can co-prosper depends on how it plays its cards, and how deftly it is able to grow its influence without making other countries feel that they have been squeezed, pressured or coerced, said PM Lee.

It also depends on the countries in Asia, developing their relationships with China but at the same time maintaining links with the rest of the world.

"To Asian countries, we are not competing with China... We accept that this is the way the region is, let's try to make the region work. And I think if that is the attitude, and if there is the sensitivity and consciousness on both sides, it can be made to work," he said.

The Americans have been a major force in Asia since at least World War II, and they remain welcomed, said PM Lee.

"The Americans have been dominant in this region, while giving countries space to grow, to develop, compete with one another peacefully, not to be held down or squatted upon," he said.

"And that is why they are still welcomed after so many years, and if the Chinese can achieve something like that, I think the region can prosper."

PM Lee was the closing speaker at the two-day Asia Future Summit organised by SPH Media and held at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore hotel. 

The summit is an inaugural collaboration between The Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao and The Business Times.

After delivering his opening remarks on the challenges facing Asia and the steps to take to address them, he answered questions for an hour at a session moderated by Mr Wong Wei Kong, editor-in-chief of SPH Media's English/Malay/Tamil Media Group.

Responding to a question on what third countries and Asian countries have to do amid a situation where lesser powers need to help the greater powers of the US and China resolve their differences, PM Lee said the issue with the US and China is a bilateral problem, and should not be a global coalition lining up against someone who is considered to be on the wrong side.

These countries, whether lined up closer to the US or China, should want to maintain stable and constructive relations with China, he said.

"Then I think you have a less tense situation. China does not feel the whole world is ganging up against them, which I don't think is true, but I think there is a perspective in China," he added.

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The other significant issue that depends on the attitudes of the countries of the world is Taiwan.

"One China is the basis on which nearly every country in the world recognises the PRC and has informal, unofficial relations with Taiwan. And I think that has to remain the fundamental basis on which relationships are maintained and the status quo is justified," said PM Lee, referring to China's official name, the People's Republic of China.

He warned against thinking of Taiwan as an analogue of Ukraine — a member of the United Nations, an independent, sovereign country, one which deserves to be defended because it is on the good side and others are on the wrong side — and that China is on the wrong side.

"I think you are changing a very fundamental basis of the international understanding, and it will have very dangerous consequences. And if countries can make that very clear, I think that is helpful," he said.

Sometimes it is not so clear, especially with a new generation and with the media, and it becomes not a question of "one China", but a question of democracy versus autocracy, and going that way is dangerous, he added.

Responding to another question about whether the status quo with regard to Taiwan is sustainable in the long run, PM Lee said that how to find a way forward for cross-strait relations is a challenge.

"I would say all parties dealing with this cross-strait situation would have to be very, very careful not to edge closer and closer to a dangerous situation which can lead to a misunderstanding or mishap," he said.

Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou, who was a panellist at an earlier session of the conference, chimed in to call for dialogue between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to try and find a solution.

"Now is a very crucial time to the two sides. If Taiwan and mainland China could work out something, I think the collision between China and the US may be avoided," he said.

Mr Ma also pointed out that Singapore had hosted leaders from both sides twice, in 1993 and 2015.

In response, PM Lee said: "I think dialogue is essential, and I believe that the two sides are talking. But from dialogue, you must move, if not to meeting of minds, at least to a mutual understanding of each other's positions and some understanding of how to take positive steps forward."

He added that Singapore was very happy on the two past occasions to play host, and if circumstances dictate further meetings, "we will be very happy to be the party sitting there providing the room and pouring the tea".

4G leadership and diplomacy

On his thoughts about whether the People's Action Party's (PAP) fourth-generation leaders are ready to handle difficult diplomatic issues as it has done in the past, PM Lee said every minister in Singapore — as ministers, as a team — needs to be able to hold Singapore's place in the world, both in friendly relationships and in dealing with problems which arise from time to time. 

"These are things which we have been working on in Cabinet. The ministers are involved in the decisions, they participate in them. And I am confident that when they take over, they will be ready, they will be well-supported, and they will grow in experience and stature with time in the job."

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On how Singapore succeeded in becoming what it is today, and how lessons could be applied during current circumstances, PM Lee said there was a lot of hard work.

"We made sure we maximised our chances, but we had lucky breaks along the way. And fortunately, we were able to make the most of them," he said.

He noted that fortunately for the country when it was starting out, the left-wing opposition party declared it a sham independence and boycotted Parliament.

The PAP expanded, took over and was in absolute control. It was able to focus on development, growth, nation-building, leadership, as well as taking the country forward, undistracted by politics, said PM Lee.

It could continue with this through the decades until now, with a very high degree of national consensus on what the country needs to do, he added.

"We are in the Garden of Eden state... and if you leave this, you are not going to come back in again. And our job is to try very hard to make people understand that, and to work together to keep it going for as long as we can," he said.

"It is not a magic formula, it is not something you can just pick up and put in a different country. We were lucky. We now have this tremendous asset, and we have a difficult environment now, and we have to make the most of it to make Singapore succeed in a very changed world." 

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