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‘Extreme’ US-China rivalry could be ‘disastrous’ for global economy: Singapore’s Lawrence Wong
- Singapore’s No 2 leader says various Western tech curbs are unlikely to ‘keep China down’
- But he warned that the ‘collateral damage’ from financial measures amid the US-China economic row was unknown
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The existing state of “extreme competition” between the United States and China, with the mutual use of economic punitive measures, could be “disastrous” for the global economy, Singapore’s No 2 leader Lawrence Wong warned on Monday.
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In a wide-ranging dialogue session, Deputy Prime Minister Wong said he believed that the West’s various restrictions targeting Beijing’s access to cutting-edge technologies were unlikely to “keep China down”.
Wong said Washington’s China policy was set to be “the big issue in the world”.
Given that the US was set on “extreme competition” with China, Singapore was concerned about “what can go wrong and it is dynamic, because one country does something and the other country can retaliate”, said Wong.
Speaking at the event marking the 100th birth anniversary of the late independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, Wong noted that when it came to security, countries generally were aware of the collateral damage associated with using certain weapons. But as the world did not have much experience on the use of financial measures in bilateral disputes – as was the case in the current US-China rivalry – the “collateral damage” inflicted by their use was unknown, he said.
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