Singapore to U.S.: Take long view on China

Singapore to U.S.: Take long view on China

WASHINGTON (Reuters): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has urged the administration of President George W. Bush to "take the long view" as it forges a new strategic relationship with China and to take care not to be seen as trying to keep the Chinese people "down."

He also stressed the need for the United States to remain engaged in politically-shaken Indonesia and to intensify its involvement in Southeast Asia.

Goh's advice, in a speech on Tuesday night to an overflow crowd of diplomats and American businessmen, took the form of a serious strategic review by one of the region's most respected analysts.

It appeared to reflect deep unease in Asia over some of the more hardline tendencies toward Beijing manifested by some elements of the Bush administration as China undergoes a leadership transition.

Goh underscored that the younger generation who will someday lead China are "less set in their ways," lack a "communist mindset," are "more exposed to the West and the world," and "have absorbed new ideas and values."

"As the U.S. grapples with the kind of strategic relationship it wants with China, it must take the long view," he told the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council annual dinner in Washington.

Goh said if China grows and plays by international rules on issues such as weapons proliferation, international trade, freedom of navigation and environmental protection, "it can become a constructive player."

U.S.-China relations have periodically gone through rocky and tense times since the Chinese military cracked down on pro- democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

They plunged anew in April when China detained a U.S. Air Force crew that crash-landed its surveillance plane on Hainan Island after colliding with a Chinese jet fighter.

The crew was eventually released unharmed and China recently agreed to return the plane, albeit in pieces.

The United States must remain in Asia to provide balance as China grows, he said. So too must the United States focus increased attention on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The group proved ineffective when Asia was hit by the 1997- 1999 financial crisis but still it offers a "unique framework for containing centrifugal forces that could otherwise destabilize the region," Goh said.

For one thing, ASEAN has changed the political context of U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia by formally inviting Washington to join it in discussing regional affairs, he said.

He urged Washington to remain engaged in Indonesia, which is embroiled in turmoil that may be on the verge of toppling President Abdurrahman Wahid, the third leader since 1998.

"When the political situation in Indonesia stabilizes, the U.S. with its friends and allies, must help Indonesia regain its confidence," including improving ties with the World Bank and encouraging investors to revisit the country, he said.

During the financial crisis, a senior Clinton official, whom Goh did not name, told Singapore Indonesia needed "discontinuity" -- to replace long-serving president Soeharto.

Singapore replied that the best change was gradual and no successor would be as strong as Soeharto to enforce tough IMF conditions needed to reform the economy and halt the freefall.

But Soeharto was forced out, the country is nearing chaos and Indonesia is "now living the consequences of discontinuity," Goh said.