Southeast Asian countries can shape their own destiny amid the deepening US-China rivalry, and the region seeks to be an “inclusive arena” where both powers are actively engaged, according to Singapore’s prime minister.
Lawrence Wong, speaking on Wednesday at a dialogue as part of a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Tianjin, said countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) collectively made up a sizeable economy with “considerable heft”.
“Asean has the ability to shape its own destiny, to shape its own future. Asean was the arena for proxy wars during the Cold War. We don’t want that to happen again,” he told the meeting, more commonly known as Summer Davos.
According to Wong, the regional bloc’s approach to great power competition is clear: it rejects zero-sum competition and embraces engagement with the US, China and other powers.
Southeast Asia counts the US as its biggest investor and China as its largest trading partner.
“We want both to be actively engaged. We want other major powers to be actively engaged. And we want the region to be an open and inclusive arena where people have stakes in … and we can all work together for shared prosperity,” he said.
Wong was asked by WEF president Borge Brende how Singapore would balance its relations with the US and China. In response, he said, “We want to be friends with both … and to have good relations with them.”
He said the city state had broad and substantial relations with both countries, and its approach towards the US-China rivalry was to “look at things from Singapore’s point of view in advancing Singapore’s national interests”.
“Our interests are to have close, good relations on substance with both America and China, and we will continue to do whatever we need to do to promote and advance Singapore’s interest,” he said.
“It’s not about balancing between the two superpowers, but it’s about being consistent and principled in advancing and promoting Singapore’s interests.”
In doing so, he said Singapore’s partners – be it the US or China or other countries – would see the city state as a reliable and trusted partner that they could work with.
Southeast Asian economies, including Singapore, have increasingly found themselves caught in the middle of the heated US-China competition. The region’s leaders have long stressed that they would not be forced to take sides and would instead maintain friendly ties with the two world powers.
Countries in the region are also navigating uncertainties arising from US President Donald Trump’s policies, including his so-called reciprocal tariffs, which have been paused for 90 days. Singapore faces a 10 per cent baseline tariff rate.
Wong told the meeting on Wednesday that Singapore “should have a zero tariff [rate]” given that the city state had a free-trade agreement with the US and the US had a trade surplus with Singapore.
“We are in a new era where there will be more barriers to trade, and we have to accept these realities. Not that we think it’s a good idea, but these are the realities that we have to work with,” he said.
“In the meantime, countries that would like to promote and advance the agenda for free trade should come together … and Singapore will be the first to lead the charge on this.”
In the 30-minute session, Wong also cautioned that the world was confronted with profound changes, with growing discontent against globalisation and global norms weakening. He added that economic nationalism was replacing win-win cooperation.
He said small countries such as Singapore were worried as they had limited bargaining power and risked being marginalised, but bigger countries also faced challenges in the new environment as it would be more difficult to deal with common threats such as climate change and financial shocks.
“Our response has to be to collectively try and still harness forces that will bring people together, promote integration, bring down barriers, and strengthen multilateralism. Multilateralism that is more resilient, more inclusive, and better suited to the realities of our time,” he said.
“If like-minded countries everywhere were to do our part then, collectively, I think we can make a difference. And then, step by step, hopefully we can lay the groundwork for a new and more stable global order in time to come.”