Washington creating avoidable dilemma
In his speech for the National Day Rally on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong touched upon the implications of the US-China tensions for the city state. Lee urged the United States to recognize that stopping China's rise is neither possible nor wise, and encouraged China to put itself in other countries' shoes and take into account their interests and views.
That this is the second time Lee has raised the same topic in three months - in his opening speech at the 2019 Shangri-La Dialogue on May 31, Lee also highlighted the difficulty of having to choose sides in the confrontation between the US and China - shows the acute dilemma countries such as Singapore face.
Both Beijing and Washington should heed Lee's words, since he has voiced the concerns of many countries as the trade war between the two giants intensifies. But it is Washington that has more to learn from Lee's message, because not only has it always held the initiative to continue or stop the trade frictions, since it single-handedly started them, but it is also the major agenda setter in global affairs, as well as being the most devastating saboteur of the international rules-based system.