Exclusive | US must play ‘long game’ with China, says Singapore’s Tharman Shanmugaratnam, not go for short-term gains, risk worse ties later

The United States needs to focus on the “long game” when dealing with China and resist the lure of short-term benefits that could create a more difficult relationship later, says the front runner in Singapore’s coming presidential election, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

An internationally respected former finance minister and central banker, Tharman said he was worried that recent moves by the US against China, such as imposing export controls and investment restrictions, would have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world. “I think we’re going down the wrong road of de-risking, or whatever term one wants to use.”

Tharman was speaking to This Week in Asia ahead of the September 1 election. Although Singapore’s president is largely a ceremonial head of state with no executive role, the office includes certain blocking powers over the use of the republic’s massive reserves and appointments to top public-sector positions. The president also represents Singapore internationally – a role that Tharman is likely to play more actively than his predecessors if elected.

Singapore lost a global statesman with the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in 2015. Tharman’s international standing, though incomparable to the late Lee’s, is without peer among Singapore’s current leaders. He was the first Asian person to chair the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the policy advisory committee of the International Monetary Fund. He also chaired the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, and the Group of Thirty from 2017 to 2022. He currently co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.

Tharman stepped away from his role as a senior minister last month to run for president, a decision widely seen by the public as being backed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his cabinet. As the constitution requires the president to be non-partisan, Tharman also resigned from the ruling People’s Action Party.

Asked how a slowing Chinese economy would affect the region and Singapore, he noted that China was going through “a very complex set of challenges, partly cyclical, partly structural”.