Singapore leader Lee Hsien Loong warns region may have to choose between China and US
- Prime minister says ‘circumstances may come when Asean may have to choose one or the other’ as he wraps up summit in city state
- US Vice-President Mike Pence tells gathering ‘we all agree that empire and aggression has no place in the Indo-Pacific’
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday warned that Southeast Asian nations may be forced to choose between the rival visions of China and the United States, while US Vice-President Mike Pence said aggression should not be tolerated.
“If you are friends with two countries which are on different sides, sometimes it is possible to get along with both, sometimes it’s more awkward when you try to get along with both,” Lee said as he wrapped up the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
“I think it’s very desirable for us not to have to take sides, but the circumstances may come when Asean may have to choose one or the other. I am hoping that it’s not coming soon.”
Lee’s remarks highlighted a deep sense of unease in the region, where concern is growing about being caught in the middle of escalating economic and security rivalry between the two powers.
US President Donald Trump’s absence from the two high-profile Asian summits this week – Asean and also Apec in Papua New Guinea – has raised questions as to America’s right to be a leader in the region, at a time when China is angling to supplant it.