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Bhavan Jaipragas

Key points:
• Lee said he hoped the next US administration would seek bipartisan consensus on Asia policy
• He urged the US to ‘find a way to come back’ to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump abandoned
• Regarding US-China tech stand-off, Lee described fallout from possible supply chain bifurcation as ‘painful’
• He said Singapore did not exclude Huawei when it sought proposals to build 5G networks
• Asked about Hong Kong unrest, he said everyone would benefit if city is ‘stable and calm and prosperous’
• Having suggested previously he could retire by 2022, Lee said ‘Covid-19 has taken us all by surprise’
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday said he hoped US-China ties improve following November’s US presidential election, although he noted the “degree of animus” and bipartisan consensus on the threat posed by Beijing was unprecedented.
During an online session moderated by billionaire private equity magnate David Rubenstein and organised by the Atlantic Council, a US think tank, Lee said Asian countries must hope the next US administration can formulate a “stable, predictable” policy towards the region.
Like his late father Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s independence leader, the current prime minister is regarded in Washington’s strategic circles as an important sounding board for Asia policy.
“Please try and develop a bipartisan consensus so that there is stability and predictability in US-Asian relations,” Lee said when asked what advice he would give the next president.
“Not just do the right thing for your administration [but] make a consensus so that the policy will last beyond your administration, and people can plan on it, and can depend on it.”

He highlighted former president Barack Obama’s strategic rebalance of US interests towards Asia away from the Atlantic.
“Many Asian countries supported that, and we asked Obama: ‘What will happen after your administration?’ They said: ‘Well, this is universal’,” Lee recalled.
Since his election in 2016, US President Donald Trump has taken a different tack, suggesting South Korea and Japan cover more of the costs of US troops and other military assets deployed in the region.
“[The Trump administration] also talked about putting more emphasis on Asia, which is welcome,” Lee said. “But it’s quite different from what Obama used to do. And we don’t know what Trump’s successor is going to do, or what the successor’s successor is going to do.”
Singapore PM says China can’t replace US security role in Southeast Asia
Regarding the potential for less volatile US-China ties, Lee acknowledged it was a “big ask” but said the region depended on “stable US-China relations in order for us to have a secure and predictable environment in which we can make a living and lead our lives”.
He also expressed his hope for the US to “find a way to come back” to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the sprawling Asia-Pacific trade pact devised by Obama.
Trump abandoned the TPP within days of taking office after campaigning on the platform of “America First” and claiming the deal would hurt US workers.
The 11 other countries that had endorsed the TPP have since signed a deal called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.


Lee said: “If the US can find the way politically to come back to it, and join it, then you’re not only advancing US interests in the region, you’re also setting a dynamic in the region towards cooperation and the right rules, which will help the region to integrate, which will build trust, which will raise standards for trade, and for economic exchange between the countries.
“And who knows, one day the Chinese may decide they have to come and join the game and participate by the same rules and I think that you will have had a win-win.”
While being interviewed by Rubenstein, Lee broached a range of topics, including the tech battle between the US and China, describing the fallout from a supply chain bifurcation as “painful”.
“It may still happen but we hope that there will be trust between the two sides and it will be possible for cooperation to continue, and for you to continue to use iPhones with components made in China, and for the Chinese to use Huawei phones with component components made in the US,” he said.
Can China actually join a trans-Pacific trade deal abandoned by Trump?
Asked whether Singapore shared US security concerns about Huawei – regarded in Washington as having unacceptably strong links with the Chinese military – Lee reiterated that “no system is totally 100 per cent secure”.
He said the Singaporean government did not exclude the Chinese firm when it sought proposals to build its 5G networks.
“In the main bids, the bidders did not choose Huawei but in some of the other aspects of the 5G networks, Huawei will be figuring and in future bids I have no doubt that he will be participating again,” he said.


Lee was also asked about the current political situation in Hong Kong, which has been roiled by deep divisions over the national security law that came into effect on July 1.
“The reaction has been split, some people supported the administration – a significant part of the population have different views. But it’s done,” he said.
The prime minister said that if, as promised by Beijing, the law “only affects a small number of people”, it was possible Hong Kong would “settle into a new normal”.
“From Singapore’s point of view, we hope that somehow or other Hong Kong will work through its problems and we think it’s better for Hong Kong and better for the region and Singapore if Hong Kong is stable and calm and prosperous and able to play the role which it used to play – helping China to grow and prosper as well,” he said.
How will Singapore’s opposition leader shape alternative policies?
Lee was sworn in for the fifth time as prime minister after Singapore’s July 10 election but told Rubenstein he had not decided how long he would stay as the country’s leader. He replaced Goh Chok Tong – his father’s successor – in 2004 and has in recent years said he wanted to retire by 2022.
“I haven’t decided,” Lee said. “I had hoped to be able to hand over by the time I was 70 years old, which is February 2022. But Covid-19 has taken us all by surprise and I think I have to see this through and hand over Singapore in good shape into good hands.”
When asked lightheartedly whether he hoped to match his father’s 31 years as prime minister, Lee replied: “No, that is not my ambition.”



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Singapore PM says stable US-China ties crucial for Asia; hopes Hong Kong settles into ‘new normal’ with security law

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: dpa

A handout photo taken by Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore on June 11, 2018 shows US President Donald Trump (R) shaking hands with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (R) following his visit to The Istana, the official residence of the prime minister, in Singapore. Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump will meet on June 12 for an unprecedented summit in an attempt to address the last festering legacy of the Cold War, with the US President calling it a "one time shot" at peace. / AFP PHOTO / Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

Can Singapore maintain its sweet spot between China and the US?

US military planes aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier as it sails in South China Sea on its way to Singapore in October 2019. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party, speaks at a virtual press conference following the general elections in Singapore, in this still frame obtained from social media video July 11, 2020. PEOPLE'S ACTION PARTY /via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY PEOPLE'S ACTION PARTY

(190225) -- BEIJING, Feb. 25, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Aerial photo taken on Oct. 8, 2018 shows the scenery of Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city in Binhai New Area, north China's Tianjin. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

Will US bid to split the Chinese people from the Communist Party work, or is it wishful thinking?

Communist Party members mark the 99th anniversary of the founding of the party at the Yuhuatai Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery in Nanjing city. Photo: Imaginechina

(200721) -- BEIJING, July 21, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, chairs a symposium with entrepreneurs in Beijing, capital of China, July 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about U.S. trade relations with China and Hong Kong in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

China can’t take over US security presence in Southeast Asia: Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong

Succession questions remain as Singapore’s PM Lee keeps faith with PAP veterans in post-election cabinet reshuffle

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: EPA-EFE

Singapores National Development Minister Lawrence Wong speaks during a press conference on coronavirus situation in Singapore on January 27, 2020. - Singapore have four case of the coronavirus. All four patients had arrived in the city-state from Wuhan over the last week. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A view of the central business district in Singapore May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

epa08517071 Tharman Shanmugaratnam, of the incumbent People's Action Party, at a nomination centre in Singapore, 30 June 2020. Singapore will hold its 18th general elections on 10 July 2020 with 93 seats across 31 single member and group represented constituencies up for contest in parliament. EPA-EFE/WALLACE WOON

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and other PAP leaders at a press conference on July 11 after the release of 2020 general election results.

National security law: Naver moves data centre from Hong Kong to Singapore

Naver is the first South Korean company known to have made changes to its Hong Kong operations after the new national security law came into effect. Photo: Shutterstock

epaselect epa05354172 A man walks past Line Corp. company logo at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, 10 June 2016. According to local media reports, the popular Japanese mobile-messaging operator Line Corp. is going through the final approval process to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Owned by South Korean internet company Naver Corp., Line is aiming to raise more than 1 billion US dollar and its launch on the Tokyo market would be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) so far this year. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told an Atlantic Council forum that stable US-China relations were crucial for Asia to ‘make a living and lead our lives’
He also touched on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, fears over Huawei, and the controversial National Security Law in Hong Kong



Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told an Atlantic Council form that stable US-China relations were crucial for Asia, and touched on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, fears over Huawei and the National Security Law in Hong Kong.


Singapore PM says stable US-China ties crucial for Asia; hopes Hong Kong settles into ‘new normal’ with security law

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told an Atlantic Council forum that stable US-China relations were crucial for Asia to ‘make a living and lead our lives’ He also touched on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, fears over Huawei, and the controversial National Security Law in Hong Kong

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told an Atlantic Council forum that stable US-China relations were crucial for Asia to ‘make a living and lead our lives’

He also touched on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, fears over Huawei, and the controversial National Security Law in Hong Kong