US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a dialogue session on July 31 at the Asian Civilisations Museum. - Photo: Lianhe Zaobao
SINGAPORE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reiterated his confidence that the US will stay engaged with the world, regardless of who becomes the next US president, while defending Washington’s trade policies against China as part of a plan to ensure fair competition and protect national security.
“There are a number of constants that don’t fundamentally change, irrespective of who wins a particular election,” Blinken said at a dialogue session on Wednesday (July 31) at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM).
Americans “understand that in order to actually get things done at home, we also have to be working with others around the world, and that remains by far the majority opinion”, he noted.
Blinken was in Singapore towards the end of a marathon 11-day swing through six Asian countries aimed at shoring up relationships with key allies in the region.
His trip came just days after US President Joe Biden announced on July 21 that he would not seek a second term in office at November’s presidential election.
Vice-President Kamala Harris is now seen as the likely Democratic nominee against the Republican Party’s candidate and former president Donald Trump.
Given Trump’s recent comments as well as past actions in his first administration, fears are that a second Trump presidency would lead to a reconfiguration of US strategic interests, diminishing the role of the world’s largest economy in global affairs while further escalating tensions with China.
As it stands, the Biden administration has increased tariffs on Chinese products in several strategic sectors such as steel and aluminium, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes and medical products.
Blinken said Beijing is at manufacturing overcapacity in some industries and sectors, producing well beyond what both China and the world need.
In addition, it is doing so with subsidies and other forms of support that not only create unfair disadvantages, but also threaten to flood other markets and ruin local communities and businesses.
“We’re in a competition... We want to make sure that that competition doesn’t veer into conflict, which is profoundly not in our interests or in anyone else’s, nor in China’s,” he added.
In Singapore, Blinken called on Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his first visit to the South-east Asian city-state as the US’ most senior diplomat.
Blinken co-chaired the second annual US-Singapore Critical and Emerging Technology Dialogue on July 31.
This is a bilateral initiative that was started in October 2023 and is aimed at deepening collaboration in building trusted, open, accessible and secure technology ecosystems.
He also inked two agreements with Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
The first agreement renews the partnership between the two countries to collaborate on building the capacity of nations in the region in public health, the digital economy, artificial intelligence and cyber security, with a view to advancing development priorities.
The second is a civil nuclear agreement aimed at helping Singapore explore the feasibility of tapping all potential options to decarbonise its power sector.
On a busy day for Blinken in Singapore, Tehran and militant group Hamas announced that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had been assassinated early in the morning of July 31 in Iran.
The development sparked fears of further escalation in tensions as the war in Gaza drags on and the potential festers of another conflict in Lebanon.
Both Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of killing Haniyeh, while Israel has not commented on his death.
Blinken told CNA in an interview that the US was not aware of nor involved in Haniyeh’s killing.
In response to a question from the audience at the ACM dialogue, Blinken said: “So much is tied to what’s happening in Gaza right now.”
“We’ve been working from day one, not only to try to get to a better place in Gaza, but also to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s the sea with the Houthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” he said.
“And a big key to trying to make sure that that doesn’t happen and that we can move to a better place is getting the ceasefire.”
Blinken will next travel to Mongolia, before returning to Washington for meetings with Australian officials.
His trip had started with a visit to Vietnam to pay his respects after the death of Communist Party of Vietnam general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
This was followed by a series of Asean ministerial meetings in Laos.
Prior to Singapore, Blinken also visited Tokyo and Manila, where China was the main topic of discussion.
He was accompanied by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.
In Tokyo, Blinken, Austin and their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara, singled out China as “the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond”.
They announced that the US will revamp its military command in Japan with a new “joint force headquarters” that will facilitate deeper inter-operability with Japan’s Self-Defence Forces.
Blinken also participated in a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, more commonly known as the Quad, with top diplomats from the other three member states – Australia, India and Japan.
In Manila, the US said it will give the Philippines a US$500 million (S$672 million) “once-in-a-generation investment” to modernise the country’s armed forces and coast guard, which will boost Manila’s capacity to defend its claims against a more aggressive Beijing in the disputed South China Sea. - The Straits Times/ANN
