WASHINGTON: Singapore's former Minister Mentor, Lee
Kuan Yew, urged the United States and China to find a way of
working together on the global stage.
He was speaking after being awarded the Lincoln
Medal in Washington DC - an honor that is reserved for people who
have exemplified the legacy and character embodied by former US
President Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln Medal is awarded annually at Ford's
Theater in Washington DC, a site of the assassination in 1865 of
President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the city's major tourist
attractions.
Lincoln is revered in the United States as he's held by many to be
the nation's greatest former President for leading the country
through the Civil War, ending slavery and promoting economic
modernisation.
Former Minister Mentor challenged the United States to be
forward-thinking about one of its modern relationships.
China's rise, he argued, will be the most dramatic global event of
this century.
Mr Lee said: "To grow, China needs American markets, American
investments, and with it American technology.
"China also wants to send thousands of her students to American
universities and research institutions, to work and learn the kind
of intellectual milieu that enables Americans to be so innovative
and creative."
China's development, said the former Minister Mentor, should not
scare the United States.
The Chinese, he argued, are in no hurry to displace the US as the
world's dominant power, and prefer instead of operate within larger
groups like the G20 and the UN Security Council.
The relationship between Washington and Beijing has been marked by
tensions of late, over issues like the value of the Chinese
currency, the Obama administration's decision to modernise Taiwan's
stockpile of F16s and China's massive holding of US debt."
But the former Minister Mentor said there's a chance for both sides
to manage the relationship in the interests not just of themselves
but of the wider world.
Mr Lee said: "Although America is currently facing tremendously
difficult economic times, I am confident that America's innate
creativity, resilience and innovative spirit will allow it to
confront its core problems, overcome them, and regain
competitiveness.
"Beyond that, the US should not see China's ascent as a zero-sum
game, but should find a way to work together, which will call for a
combination of regular dialogues, hard negotiation and mutual
reassurances".
Equable relations between the two countries, he said, are the most
important for peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region, and
the whole world.
- CNA/ck
