Daily Lessons from Life 21 September 2017 - 2nd chance for PM Lee

"Singapore-China ties are ‘more than stable’: PM Lee Hsien Loong

XIAMEN, China: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday (Sep 21) that bilateral ties between Singapore and China, which faced hiccups last year, are in a good state.

“I think bilateral relations are more than stable, they are in a good state. We had some issues to deal with last year, but this year there have been many exchanges,” Mr Lee told reporters during an interview in Xiamen."

I m glad that PM Lee acknowledged there were hiccups between China n Sgp last year. I can understand WHY he doesn't want to share the reasons for those huccups as they were largely his doing as I see them. 

Starting with the TPP without China, speeches in Whitehouse during his "I m my father's equal as the 2nd PM is Sgp to get a state banquet" moment on what China should do in the SCS, similar language in Tokyo of all places abt how China should behave, n finally in Lima's APEC saying no country can stay the "middle kingdom" as the world has changed n changed rapidly!

The look of innocence n puzzlement on the Foreign Minister n Defense Minister n the "we had been doing this for years n hv no issue" so why r our tanks being detained in Hkg SAR? N the criesof "Sgp sovereign rights had been violated" did not help.

Anyway, these r all water under the bridge. With Sgp chairing Asean in 2018, not that collectively it can do much as shown in the inability to put up a unified Asean declaration on SCS in the past, maybe the Chinese is giving Sgp another chance to make good on a mutually beneficial relationship. 

I begged to differ from PM Lee's "more than stable" assessment n cautioned thoughtfulness n be careful handling the relationship.

China leadership has a lot to deal with in the October big meeting. Besides consolidating President Xi's grip on power for "more than 1 more term", the unruly "ally" in nuclear-weapin-ready (?) North Korea is making China very nervous. Any war on th Korean Peninsula means thousands of refugees crossing into North East China n also possible nuclear dusts blowing Beijing way!!

When there is war, BRI will take a back seat. So China doesn't want war though the USA would as the battlefields will once again be far far away from USA soil!!