As Trump returns to the White House with new threats against China, Singapore’s leader thinks that a full split between Washington and Beijing is unlikely, yet warns that disaster looms if the two sides can’t get along—and drag the rest of the world along with them.
At an event at the National University of Singapore on Tuesday, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was asked what Trump’s second term meant for the region. According to the Straits Times, a local newspaper, Wong suggested that while the U.S. and China were competing for global leadership, neither Washington nor Beijing wanted a hot war.
Yet he warned that countries like Singapore should not be forced to take sides, joining either a U.S. bloc or a China bloc. A move like that could “take the world to the brink of a third world war,” he said.
Fortune has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for additional comment.
Miscalculations could also happen around geopolitical hotspots like the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait, Wong added.
Beijing claims almost all the South China Sea, leading to territorial disputes with Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Vietnam. In recent years, China has tried to buttress its claims by building artificial islands or harassing ships from competing nations.
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Washington often criticizes China’s actions in the South China Sea, especially those toward the Philippines, a U.S. ally. The U.S. Navy conducts frequent freedom of navigation exercises through the South China Sea as well, to Beijing’s disapproval.
Southeast Asian countries have, for the most part, tried to maintain good relations with both the U.S. and China, sticking to a policy of nonalignment. Several countries in the region maintain strong security ties with Washington, yet China is the region’s largest trading partner.
Despite his warning, Wong said on Tuesday that he felt it was unlikely that relations between the U.S. and China would get so bad as to spark a “third world war.”
“If the U.S. were to cut themselves off from China, it will be very damaging for the U.S. economy and for American citizens. So much of what the U.S. manufactures and produces and imports for its people comes from China, so I can’t see how a full decoupling can happen at this stage,” Mothership.sg, another local outlet, reported Wong saying.
On Tuesday, Trump raised the possibility of a new 10% tariff on Chinese goods as early as Feb. 1, which would be the first move in a likely renewed trade war between the U.S. and China. On Wednesday, Chinese officials reiterated that “there are no winners in a trade or tariff war.”
Global companies continue to rely on China for their supply chains. Experts note that China is still the only country that can manufacture intricate products, like motherboards and electronics, at scale and at low cost. U.S. retailers also rely on China for cheap imports.
