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As the US-China tensions are rising in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month, Singapore’s prime minister-in-waiting has warned that Washington and Beijing are increasing the risk of stumbling into an unintended war.
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who doubles as finance minister, said in an interview with Bloomberg News that the two countries are leading the world into dangerous territory with the series of decisions that they’ve taken.
Wong pointed out Taiwan as just one flashpoint in the Washington-Beijing relationship, warning that miscalculations can quickly escalate, as we have seen in recent events,
Noting that although both sides understand the consequences and don’t really want to go into conflict, Singapore’s future PM said that the biggest problem and danger is that one can sleepwalk into conflict without deliberately wanting to go into battle.
He also echoed former US State Secretary Henry Kissinger’s recent comments that the US is aimlessly careening toward war with Russia and China on issues that Washington partly created, without any concept of how that will end or what it’s supposed to lead to.
Underscoring that Singapore is not a US ally and opposes the independence of Taiwan, Wong said he expects, partly because of domestic politics in the two countries, US-China relations to remain adversarial.
After Pelosi’s trip to Taipei, China cut off military and climate ties with the US, accusing Washington of undermining China’s sovereignty and emboldening Taiwan’s separatists.
The tensions escalated further on Sunday when another US congressional delegation traveled to the self-governing island after which China responded with military drills in the region.
China’s recent saber-rattling has emphasized its threat to take Taiwan by military force. Despite continued claims, it wants to use peaceful means to bring the island under its control.
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