In China, ‘bridge-builder’ Singapore champions a multilateral world

A marquee visit by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to China this week has underscored a push by Southeast Asian countries for multilateralism amid uncertainty over America’s commitment to the region and free trade. Benjamin Ho, assistant professor at RSIS, said Wong sought to impress upon the Chinese that it was in their interest to ensure the multilateral rules-based order was good for China too. “Given the uncertainty of American commitment to the region, countries in the region, including China, have the responsibility to sort of ensure that the multilateral order doesn’t vanish or get totally wrecked,” Ho said. Yuen Foong Khong, Li Ka Shing professor in political science at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS, and Joseph Liow, dean of the college of humanities, arts, and social sciences at NTU, analysed the positions of 10 Southeast Asian countries on a welter of issues relating to China and the US and concluded that “Southeast Asian countries may insist that they are staying above the fray, but their policies reveal otherwise. The region is drifting toward China, a fact that bodes ill for American ambitions in Asia”.

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