China is right to keep calm and carry on in US trade war, says Singapore’s Goh Chok Tong
- And that’s also the advice Lee Kuan Yew would give the Chinese were he alive today, according to the Lion City’s former prime minister
“China is reacting in the right way, restrained, dignified and not trying to ratchet up the dispute … that’s the right way to behave at this stage,” he told This Week in Asia .
Lee, Singapore’s founding prime minister who died in March 2015, had over the years developed close ties with top Chinese leaders and on occasion acted as an honest broker with the Americans, communicating with them how the Chinese viewed the world.
But, according to Goh, the issue for China now was trying to figure out who speaks for the White House, rather than who could serve as an intermediary to the Americans. The Chinese were less dependent on intermediaries such as Lee, Goh said. “I said times have changed. Lee Kuan Yew would have no role today. But I did tell them what Lee Kuan Yew would tell the Chinese: just stay calm, restrain yourself. Just don’t get into a fight, stay calm. Wait out your time.”
