US, China urged to make a new start

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called on China and the United States to reset their relationship under the new US administration to avoid a clash between the world's two largest economies.

Lee made the remarks in the closing address at the World Economic Forum Davos Agenda virtual meeting that ended on Friday. Singapore is due to host an in-person special meeting of the annual event in May.

Lee said Singapore has grown incrementally since the start of China's reform and opening up in 1978.

"Everybody has benefited from that－Chinese people, but also all its trading partners, Europe, America and Asia," he said.

However, tensions between China and the US have intensified over the past four years, he said.

"The US now sees China as a strategic rival and challenger to its preeminent position, and China is vigorously asserting what it considers its rightful place in the world."

"I think if you see China as a threat, that is going to be a very big problem. Because when you are creating a threat… the struggle will continue for a long time."

He emphasized that "it cannot be too late for the US and China to reset the tone of their interactions, and avert a clash between them, which will become a generational twilight struggle".

"Amid President (Joe) Biden's many urgent preoccupations, the US-China relationship should become a key strategic priority."

It takes leadership at the very top to persuade its own people, the Congress and the intelligentsia, Lee said.

'Find right way forward'

Fu Ying, a former Chinese vice-foreign minister, said the serious damage to the China-US relationship over the past years cannot be underestimated.

"It's a challenge for both sides to find the right way forward," she told a session of the Davos forum.

The US needs time to assess in which areas it can work with China and which areas it needs to manage with China to avoid conflict.

"For the Chinese side, I think we also need to reflect and observe what the intention is, what the next move by the United States is," she said, adding that China does not want to dominate the world.

Kang Kyung-wha, foreign minister of the Republic of Korea, said the idea of decoupling may be possible and already happening in certain areas of crucial strategic interest, but overall this idea of decoupling is unrealistic because businesses are too interconnected.

While Kang noted the importance of sharing values with like-minded countries, she said "that should not prevent us from cooperating with societies that don't necessarily share those values".

"The world is a very complicated place, and the reality is not clean-cut. I always say reality is very messy. The job of leaders at national level and global level is to manage that messiness and find solutions that are beneficial to all."

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said his country is a strong partner for both China and the US economically. "We see that cooperation is not just possible but absolutely necessary."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said: "Indonesia hopes ASEAN and China can cooperate better."