China’s attempt to grow its influence should not come at the expense of other countries feeling pressured or it risks a backlash, Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong (黃循財) said.
The superpower knows it has to “play its cards carefully,” Wong said during a dialogue session at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Friday.
A pushback would not be in China’s interests, so it “will have to learn how to moderate and adjust” as it develops its ambitions, he said.
Photo: AFP
The Chinese “feel that their time has come, they need to take their rightful place in the world and they ought to be more assertive with regards to their interests abroad,” Wong said. “Then China has to grow its influence without making other countries feel pressured, coerced or squeezed.”
There are tensions between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors over claims in the South China Sea. Asian nations have also struggled to navigate an increasingly tricky geopolitical picture as the rivalry between the US and China complicates everything from trade to climate issues.
Countries such as Singapore have for years refrained from choosing sides, instead embracing a collective non-alignment that has become harder to maintain as pressures build over maritime claims, as well as Taiwan.
“We value the friendship we have with the US,” Wong said, as he wrapped up an 11-day trip to the country, where he met top officials to discuss how to bolster already strong ties between the two nations.
“China now is also a good friend with all the countries in Southeast Asia, and we would like to stay friends with both,” he said.
China’s fragile economic recovery has been in focus as new data shows the country returning to the brink of deflation.
IMF economists have said that China’s real-estate sector downturn could erode growth prospects in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Chinese economy is “going through a challenging sort of situation now” amid high youth unemployment, Wong said.
As real-estate accounts for about 20 to 30 percent of China’s economy, “once you prick the bubble, there are all sorts of consequences, knock-on effects cascading throughout the entire economy, which they will have to manage,” he said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’