Singapore
“It’s not easy to make a sudden breakthrough, but it is the first step towards both sides resuming a dialogue,” Mr Lee Hsien Loong says of the Jun 12 meeting in Singapore in an interview with SCMP.
South China Morning Post columnist Tom Plate and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information)
SINGAPORE: The meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for Jun 12 is a “first step” towards both countries resuming dialogue, said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose country is hosting the historic summit.
In an interview with South China Morning Post columnist Tom Plate published on Monday (Jun 4), Mr Lee said the choice of Singapore as host nation shows that it is friends with both parties “and they believe we can do a good job of it”. It is also “politically acceptable” for both of them to be here, he added, though the two countries “have a very difficult task”.
“This summit is taking place at not very long notice, and without … extensive preparation or contact between the two sides,” Mr Lee said.
“It is not easy to make a sudden breakthrough, but it is the first step towards both sides resuming a dialogue.”
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen had on Saturday said the country is gearing up to play host to the meeting, with security agencies from the Home Team and the Singapore Armed Forces busy planning to make sure everything is safe. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.
“NOT NECESSARY TO BE ENEMIES”
On US-China relations, Mr Lee hoped the former will conclude that it can still do business with the latter despite their differences.
“It is up to you (the US) how you want to see the world. The question is what conclusion you will reach,” he said.
“Do you conclude that the Chinese have to be like you, in order to be your friend? Or do you conclude that they do not have to be like you, yet you can still do business with them? We do hope that you can come to the second conclusion, because it is not necessary for you to be enemies just because you are different from them.”
He added: “They do not think less of you just because you do not have a Communist Party of the United States.”
The prime minister also warned of a reaction from China’s end if the US adopts a negative attitude.
“They are already suspicious of you, that you intend to frustrate their ambitions to greatness … The Chinese do not feel they should be sat upon in judgment,” he said.
Mr Lee pointed to the planned US trade sanctions on China as an example, saying that based on his feeling “from our people and just reading the papers” there is actually quite wide support in the US.
“Even (New York Times columnist) Thomas Friedman feels so … He is not a natural hawk. … So there are people who do not have a lot of time for the Trump administration, who agree with him on this matter,” he said.
Asked if there is a “fundamental cleavage” pushing the US and China further apart, Mr Lee said it does not have to go down that road, but a wider mistrust can easily develop from trade frictions.
“Because now, it is not just trade, exchange or currency exchange rates, but you are also blocking their investments, more than before,” he said.
“If you do not want to run a trade deficit with them, yet you do not want to sell them what they want to buy – either companies or strategic goods – then what is the outcome?”
