The Republic’s foreign policy has been premised on cultivating close ties with other countries without aligning itself to any superpower, but it may become more difficult to do this as Sino-US relations are very likely to turn confrontational, said Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh.

Speaking as a conference moderator at the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) Singapore Perspectives conference, Professor Koh, said that all countries, including small nations such as Singapore, would be part of the “collateral damage” in such a scenario.

… Professor Joseph Liow, dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, a panellist at the session, felt that despite its newly inaugurated President gunning for an “America First” approach, the US is unlikely to withdraw completely from Asia, given that it has much to gain from maintaining its ties with the region.