SINGAPORE must never be seen to be “playing multiple sides”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters yesterday at the end of a four-day official visit to Tokyo to mark 50 years of bilateral ties between Singapore and Japan.

“We must have a stand, our own position, and we stick to that position whomever we are talking to, whichever country or capital you are in,” he said.

“When you make a speech, the gist of the message has to be the same. That’s what I try to do, and that’s what I tell the leaders I’m speaking to whether I’m in Washington, Hangzhou, Tokyo, Europe or Moscow. My essential message is the same.”

Speaking about Singapore’s “basic foreign policy approach” – which is to be friends with all the countries who want to befriend Singapore,

PM Lee added: “You cannot have different messages for different people because you will soon run into very serious trouble.”

But he acknowledged that ties among Singapore’s friends might, from time to time, be complicated by issues such as the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

In such a situation, he said: “We will have to decide where we are going to stand, and how we can try our best to preserve our friendship with both sides of the issue.”

Singapore, as the dialogue coordinator for ASEAN-China relations, has been consistent in what it stands for, said Mr Lee. “And where we can try to help push things forward for other countries, we work with them to do that.”

But he added that, when the countries do not agree, Singapore accepts that there are different perspectives.

“I’m not exactly the same as your position but that doesn’t mean I’m against you, and we have to work together because no single issue defines the whole relationship with another country,” he said, noting the multifaceted nature of diplomatic relations, ranging from trade and people-to-people exchanges to tourism.

“You have to try and contain the issues where there may be difficulties, and not let it sour the whole gamut of ties,” PM Lee added.

And within ASEAN, whose member states have substantive partnerships with major powers, countries “have to work out where they stand on issues and whose interests they take”.

“I think most of the time, the ASEAN countries will decide on interests which are in their own or collectively ASEAN’s interests, or where that’s not possible, to take or state its own stand,” he added.

PM Lee was scheduled to arrive in Singapore yesterday evening.

waltsim@sph.com.sg

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Six out of 10 children in Singapore are not eating any whole grains, a new study has revealed.

The islandwide survey of 561 children in Singapore aged six to 12 was conducted by Newcastle University International Singapore.

Whole grains contain all parts of the grain: The germ, which includes vitamins such as B and E; the endosperm, which provides energy; and the bran, which is the fibre-rich outer protective shell.

Refined “white” grains contain only the endosperm.

The study found that 94 per cent of children surveyed here do not meet the United States’ recommended daily intake of 48g of whole grains.

The study claim that people who regularly eat whole grains tend to have a better nutrient intake, healthier weight and are less likely to have diabetes and certain types of cancer.

For children who do consume whole grains, bread and rice were the most common sources. The two food products were tied at 29 per cent, the study found.

Breakfast cereals were a source of whole grains for 18 per cent of children surveyed.

The survey, said to be the first of its kind studying whole grain consumption habits of children here, is a joint venture between food companies General Mills, Nestle and Cereal Partners Worldwide, which makes breakfast cereals.

Singaporeans are becoming increasingly open to healthier food choices such as whole grains.

Wholegrain rice sales increased from about 2 per cent in 2008 to about 5 per cent last year, The Straits Times reported in June.

The topic of whole grains also took the spotlight earlier in May when The Straits Times reported that the preference for white rice was the Health Promotion Board’s main concern in fighting diabetes.

In the months since, supermarket chains such as NTUC FairPrice have rolled out promotions for wholegrain rice options, with some chains reporting an increase in wholegrain rice sales while sales for white rice fell.

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