KUALA LUMPUR: “Everyone is worried because we are in a far more dangerous world today,” Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong remarked as he reflected on the evolving global landscape.
Speaking at the People’s Action Party (PAP) Conference 2024 in Singapore on Sunday (November 24), Wong shared insights from recent high-level meetings at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru and the G20 Summit in Brazil.
His speech, broadcast live online, highlighted the precarious state of global geopolitics, marked by ongoing wars, strained superpower relations, and rising instability.
“There are major wars raging in Europe and the Middle East. The US-China relationship is in a more challenging place, and there are many moving pieces geopolitically where things can easily go wrong,” said Wong, who also serves as Deputy Secretary-General of the ruling PAP.
For decades, he said, “all of us have benefited from an American-led Global Order.”
“We say this is Pax Americana in Latin. It means a world with America as the dominant power supported by multilateral institutions, like the United Nations, the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the World Bank, the International Court of Justice and so on.. shaping international norms and behaviours.”
“Now, the situation is changing”, said the prime minister.
“America is still pre-eminent but it no longer wants to be the world’s policeman. Former president Donald Trump has just been re-elected to office based on an America first,” he said.
Wong noted that Trump’s mandate “reflects the growing sentiment among the American public that they are paying too high a price to uphold this Global Order... too high a price and yet not enjoying the commensurate benefit.”
At the same time, he said there are other rising powers, like, China and India.
“But they too are focused on their own domestic issues and they are not yet in a position to take on larger global responsibilities.”
Thus, he said, “the world is in flux.”
“The established norms are fading, but a new order is not yet in place. Amid this vacuum of global leadership... we can expect more conflict and instability in the world because state and non-state actors will be emboldened to test boundaries. Often with little or no consequence.”
Wong stated that the world has already seen this in Ukraine, where there has been an egregious breach of the United Nations Charter and territorial sovereignty.
“Also in the Middle East where there has been a horrendous terrorist attack followed by a cataclysmic humanitarian tragedy,” he said.
Ideally, Wong suggested that the major powers of the world “should come together, coordinate their positions and work together for the larger good”.
“Stop the conflicts. Stop the wars. Tackle shared challenges like climate change and nuclear proliferation otherwise, we can’t look forward to a shared future,” he said.
Unfortunately, he said there is deep suspicion and mistrust between America and China.
“Each regards the other as a strategic threat and both are taking steps to enlarge their spheres of influence and to strengthen their own positions. So it will get harder to find common ground.”
He added that: “This dynamics will be with us for some time.”
“We are not talking about one or two years, and then things will improve. I think we will have to grapple with this perhaps for the next decade or beyond.
“It means we will find it more difficult to make a living and keep ourselves safe.
“Other countries may test our limits and we must be ready to stand firm and defend our interests. At the same time, we must redouble our efforts to make friends with everyone. Big and small, near and far,” he said.
Elsewhere, Wong told party members that this would be the last PAP biennial conference before the general election.
“It will be next year,” thus confirming for the first time that the election will be in 2025.
Singapore’s last general election was in July 2020.
