Speech by Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing, at the 41st IISS-Asia Fullerton Lecture, “Singapore Amid Great Power Rivalry” ,goe.gov.sg

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[…] 20. Global leadership is needed now more than ever, to:

  1. uplift the world out of the pandemic,
  2. rebuild and reorganise the disrupted global supply chains,
  3. create the assurance of access to critical supplies, including vaccines,
  4. deal with climate change, and
  5. many other pressing global challenges.
  1. There is tremendous opportunity for both the US and China to focus on these global challenges and exercise their respective leadership to win the world over.Meanwhile, the rest of the world must also understand that we have the responsibility and the agency to shape the outcome we desire.
    1. That outcome must be for the world to remain inclusive, open, and inter-connected, where we are vested in each other’s success.
    2. There are things that we can and should do, and others that we can and should avoid doing.
    1. Avoid a zero-sum mentality.
    2. It is a false dichotomy that one side must lose, for the other to win.
    3. We can send a clear message that we will act on principle, and do not wish to be corralled into taking sides.
    4. We act in accordance with our own enlightened long-term interests, which may not always align with the specific interests of either the US or China.
    5. Most countries, including those in Europe, want to be partners with both the US and China, and to grow their relationships with both.
    6. Taking sides regardless of issues and context, breeds irrelevance. And if one is irrelevant, it will almost certainly require taking sides.
    1. We should stand on the side of principles for a rules-based, inclusive, open, and connected world order.
    1. The more countries stand for, believe and act upon this, the more viable the desired outcome for all of us.
    2. This is, perhaps, the classical Prisoner’s Dilemma in Game Theory – if we don’t hang together, we hang individually. Läs talet
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