Lee Kuan Yew once averred, in his flawless English, that while “experiences formed the lessons of life, bad ones are the best tutors as yet.” In “One Man’s View of the World,” Lee Kuan Yew literally gave a tour de force equal to his role as a top thinker and strategist in Asia, not just in Singapore. Although he was at the helm of Singapore for a good thirty years, Lee Kuan Yew was brilliant at dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of each culture, indeed, civilization. Some of them may be politically incorrect, as when he spoke of the chaos of India, and the Philippines but he was able to hit the proverbial nail on almost every count.
Lee Kuan Yew, for example, argued that China would be an unstoppable economic juggernaut as early as the 1980s. True enough, China has been anything but a walkover, despite not being a member of the Group of Seven, during the entire period of its rise. China has also avoided the US containment of it. Be that as it may, Lee Kuan Yew has always believed that the management of China lies in retaining two devices. First, the balance of power must be maintained by an external balancer like the United States. Second, basic mores and rules of engagement must always be specified, without which mere balance of power would not work. These are the two structural constraints that have formed the foreign policy templates of Singapore. Unfortunately, having spoken so openly, China has become aware of Singapore’s foreign policy orientation, especially its favorable worldview of the United States.
This has drawn the ire of China, followed by a recent warning from Beijing, that Singapore should not encourage other powers to intervene in the region. In other words, China should be allowed to engage and confront any country in the region as it sees fit. Lee Kuan Yew foresaw all of that. But given the relatively small size of Singapore, he knew the limitations of Singapore to restrain the ambition and will of China. Throughout his career, Lee Kuan Yew spoke of the importance of engaging China, rather than confronting it. While China appreciated the warm and friendly view of Lee Kuan Yew then, Beijing is in no mood to tolerate Singapore’s pro-US approach now, if ever. Therein is the quandary of Singapore.