PM Lee’s super long TIME mag interview can be S’poreans’ introduction to American and Chinese politics

His grasp of international politics is solid.

Martino Tan | October 28, 2016, 10:52 AM

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was recently interviewed by TIME magazine on a series of international affairs concerning the US elections, US and Chinese politics, and US-China relations.

The interview with Ian Bremmer, TIME's editor-at-large and foreign affairs columnist, took place last week (Oct 20) before PM Lee's trip to Bangkok.

It was published on Thursday night, with the 5,172 word transcript uploaded onto the Prime Minister’s Office website.

Anyway, here are 10 comments from PM Lee’s TIME interview, which will serve as your introduction to American and Chinese politics from a Singaporean perspective:

1. The stability of the American political system

"In every American election, crazy things are said. Positions are taken which the winners try very hard to forget afterwards. George Bush Senior said 'read my lips' and regretted it. All American candidates who won have before winning been very harsh on China, and after winning, much more restrained in their approach towards China."

2. Consequences of the Trans Pacific Partnership not ratified

"I think TPP will be a casualty if it is not settled by January...That would be a very big setback for America...Your standing goes down with many countries around the world."

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's prime minster, talk while participating in an official arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The occasion marks first official visit by a Singapore prime minister since 1985. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Source: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

3. Highlighting the effectiveness and subtlety of China's diplomacy

"You (United States) do not do things which the Chinese do. The Chinese go around with lollipops in their pockets. They have aid, they have friendship deals, they build you a Prime Minister’s office or President’s office, or Parliament House or foreign ministry. For them, trade is an extension of their foreign policy."

"You do not do these retail items. The one big thing which you have done is to settle the TPP, which Obama has done."

And perhaps Obama's mistake in his political strategy regarding TPP:

"Obama did not push this very hard domestically, and expend the political capital until quite late. He may have left it too late."

4. His optimism about the future of the United States.

"I am very reluctant to say that America is on a downhill slope. You currently have difficulties, both with the economy and the politics, which is very fractious. But it is not to say that the Chinese do not have their own problems or that America does not have a lot of resilience, creative energy and entrepreneurship.

Especially in the next two decades.

"You have the science, you have the technology in Silicon Valley and you have the ability to attract brains from all over the world. You can bounce back. On a 15, 20 year view, I do not see any reason to believe that you will continue to go downhill."

5. And then PM Lee drilled into why America’s foreign policy influence is decreasing.

"It is the perception of their interest. Because Americans are preoccupied with jobs, upset about globalization, so they say, 'How about turning inwards?' 40 per cent support building a wall. It does not mean it is in the interest of those 40 per cent to build a wall, but that is the sentiment and it is not helpful.

If that continues to be the sentiment, I think it is negative for America and it is negative for the world".

6. On the US-China relations and why it is different from the Cold War

HANGZHOU, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 04:  Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama to the G20 Summit on September 4, 2016 in Hangzhou, China. World leaders are gathering in Hangzhou for the 11th G20 Leaders Summit from September 4 to 5.  (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

"I do not know what the texture of their discussions with China on this are. I know that Obama has spent quite a lot of time talking to Xi Jinping. He did so in Hangzhou at the G20; he did so at the Sunnylands retreat in 2013, and they have spent a lot of time talking. Biden has spent time talking to Xi Jinping too. I am not sure what the relationship is or how directly they are able to discuss these issues.

"The one saving grace this time round is the substantial economic relationship: Chinese have lent America trillions of dollars so they do not want America to crash, and America has a lot of business with China which you do not want to lose. That is different than the relationship between you and the Soviet Union in the Cold War."

7. On the main problem with US-China relations

"I do not think there is a lot of strategic trust... You are fundamentally in different positions which are not easily reconciled. But there is an absence of strategic trust in the sense that the Chinese are convinced that you are trying to slow their growth and you are convinced that the Chinese may do something unpredictable."

8. And how the lack of strategic trust was tackled during the past US administrations.

nixon-kissingerlee

"How do you establish enough dialogue in order to overcome that? It has to happen at the top. With the Soviets, you used to have backchannels. You used to have Kissinger with Dobrynin and Kissinger with Gromyko, and then Nixon would talk to Brezhnev. They were opponents, but they made some progress."

"Now you have the mechanisms with China. You have the Strategic Dialogue where your Secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury meet their Chinese counterparts. But I am not sure the degree to which you are able to engage and come down to brass tacks."

9. On being asked to grade Chinese President Xi Jinping

Source: Lee Hsien Loong Facebook Source: Lee Hsien Loong Facebook

"No, I do not think I want to grade people...No, not even off the record."

"But what he has done on anti-corruption I think is progress. He has worked very hard at reforms in the armed forces, in the PLA, which are not easy to do. He has restructured the chain of command and made himself Commander-in-Chief to assert himself. He must have had a lot of resistance to that but he went ahead and did it."

10. On the Chinese President's huge political influence

"It is a balance when you are in the leadership team –- it depends somewhat on the personality, somewhat on the phase. After a period with a strong leader, you tend to go for a collective leadership. Then you find that collective leadership is difficult to operate, and you try to centralize the leadership in a more dominant figure.

We will have to see what team Xi comes up with next year in the 19th Congress and how he balances or divides up the responsibilities in that team."

You can read the full transcript here.

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