Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan fielded a number of tough questions from CNBC interviewers on Singapore's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak.

He made the points that it could last for a year, and said that healthcare systems could hopefully keep the mortality rate to one per cent, if they had enough support.

However, he was also faced with questions on how the virus has impacted Singapore's foreign policy and its relations with other countries.

There were potential banana skins, but Vivian won praise from commenters for his measured replies that outlined Singapore's stance, emphasising good relations with China and cooperation with the rest of the ASEAN countries.

The United States

Interviewer Martin Soong asked Vivian about the U.S. response to the outbreak, calling it "laughably behind in terms of preparedness".

However, Vivian said that he would "never count the Americans out."

He pointed out that the U.S. had immense resources and it was just a matter of organisation and distribution.

Vivian added that he did not wish to engage in that kind of "polemic" against the U.S., as Covid-19 is a test for all countries, on all fronts, from governance to social capital.

Since the interview aired, President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency, releasing US$50 billion to help containment efforts and announced joint efforts with pharmaceutical companies to speed up testing.

Excellent relationship with China

Interviewer Sri Jegarajah asked if the outbreak, and Singapore's measures to contain it which included barring travellers from China, has impacted Singapore's relations with the Asian giant.

But Vivian emphasised that "the relationship between Singapore and China is excellent."

He stated that it was true Singapore was one of the first countries to announce some travel measures.

This earlier resulted in some friction, with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi criticising countries who made that move.

However, Vivian said that China "understood" Singapore's position, owing to its circumstances as a small, hyper-connected travel hub.

Vivian also pointed to Singapore's constant communication with China, at both the professional and political levels.

Singapore was able to use China's research to develop PCR test kits, which we were then able to provide to China in turn.

Vivian said,

"We are working very closely with China. I can tell you our relations are excellent, based on trust, and based on a long track record of interaction."

Test kit diplomacy

Vivian also used a phrase, "test kit diplomacy", to describe how countries with advanced healthcare systems could share the fruits of their research.

Sri Jegarajah asked about it, and asked if Vivian was concerned about the situation in Indonesia, which have reported very few cases.

But Vivian replied that Singapore is in the same "hot zone" with the other Southeast Asian countries, due to the high volume of travel within the region.

Therefore, these countries had to cooperate. Vivian said:

"We are all in it together. I can tell you, without revealing details, that we are sharing information, we are sharing capacity, and we are coordinating our measures. We are in it together and we cannot resolve this unless the whole world, and in particular for us in our region, ASEAN, gets it right."

He added: "This virus has shown that it does not respect passports, boundaries, politics. It is time to work together."

Vivian's interview won praise, with one American Twitter user calling it "calm, clear leadership."

BTW if anyone wants to see what calm, honest, clear leadership during a crisis sounds like you could do a lot worse than listen to this with Singapore Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan 👇https://t.co/5XhO5tDxRe

— Phil Cuff (@PhilCuff) March 14, 2020

Closer to home, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin said Vivian faced "tricky questions", but said that Vivian provided a "calm and clear description of what's going on".

Tan added that Vivian was "steady lah."

Several Facebook users agreed, with Vivian's sharing of the video on his own Facebook page garnering over 6,500 reactions and nearly 6,000 shares.

You can watch it below:

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Top image from Vivian Balakrishnan's Facebook page via CNBC.