[ad_1]
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday called for greater integration of Southeast Asian countries at a time when multilateralism is under threat.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaks at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Singapore on November 12, 2018. REUTERS / Athit Perawongmetha
His remarks were made at an economic summit on the sidelines of this week's meetings between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and partners the United States and China, engaged in a fierce trade war.
"ASEAN has great potential, but to fully realize it, it depends on whether or not we choose to become more integrated and work decisively towards that goal in a world where multilateralism collapses under the auspices. political pressures, "said Lee at the ASEAN Summit on Trade and Investment.
Lee had already warned that the trade war between the United States and China could have a "considerable negative impact" on Singapore, and the city's central bank warned that it could soon slow down growth.
US President Donald Trump, absent from this week's meetings in Singapore, said several existing multilateral trade agreements were unfair and had criticized China over intellectual property theft, barriers to the entry of US companies and of a gaping trade deficit.
Vice President Mike Pence will attend Mr. Trump's place. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are future ASEAN members.
Li is expected to mobilize his support for the Regional Economic Partnership Pact (RCEP) currently being negotiated, which is presented as a free trade agreement that will encompass more than a third of the world's GDP.
The pact includes 16 countries, including China, India, Japan and South Korea, but not the United States.
It was unclear whether Li and Pence will have separate discussions on the sidelines of meetings in Singapore, which would be the prelude to a planned summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the month in Buenos Aires.
The meeting, if it occurred, would follow the high-level talks in Washington, where the two sides outlined their main differences but seemed to be trying to limit the damage done to relations, which has worsened with absolute tariffs in recent months.
Report by John Geddie; Edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan
