Thread by @jseldin

"Many countries are in a better position now w/more ppl vaccinated now, but w/the Delta variant spreading & future variants entirely possible, the way forward will be complicated" #Singapore Prime Minister @leehsienloong tells @AspenSecurity re #COVID19

"We had all hoped a pandemic would prompt more countries to work more closely together...it's been quite different" #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"There's been some cooperation... but more broadly #COVID19 hasn't brought countries together. In fact, often in the contrary"

"Internationally, the pandemic has spawned recriminations & finger pointing" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong "Domestically, populations in many countries feel growing anxiety & insecurity that has fed nativist sentiments"

#COVID19

ON #UnitedStates, "The US has returned to a more conventional approach to foreign policy, a renewed emphasis on multilateralism & has refocused on its global network of allies & partners" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"There's a palpable sense of relief, not just in the #Asia-#Pacific but all around the world" per @leehsienloong

"Countries are looking for long-term strategic consistency from the US. They hope that it will sustain such policies not just for now...but for the long term"

Countries hope for a reliable & predictable US which will provide a stable anchor for the int'l order, as it has done so many decades" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

US-#China: "There has unfortunately been continuity" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong on the difficult bilateral relationship

#China's "attitudes have become more assertive & robust" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong "China's strategic & economic influence has grown...it seeks to reshape the int'l order to its advantage"

"I think it will be hard to reverse the present trend toward more troubled relations" between #China & the US, per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"But many countries still hope that the deterioration in that relationship can be checked...No good outcome can arise from a conflict"

#Singapore's @leehsienloong praises repeated high level visits from @SecDef @SecBlinken to #Asia-#Pacific, though he notes US attitudes right now are "not pro-trade"

"We are concerned...It is a progressive issues w/very serious consequences" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong on US-#China, noting "it won't explode on you tomorrow"

"For a long time, the US saw #China as a country it could work with" despite disputes, per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"China was quite happy to be in this flanking position" he adds "But it's reached the point where China is not so small anymore...it's ambitions have grown"

"President Biden has said there will be extreme competition but he doesn't believe conflict. Well, we all hope so...but it's not easy to maintain that line" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong "It's a very fine line between that to treating the competitor as the opponent"

"In this dynamic, to try & restore trust & work w/one another, I think that takes statesmanship as well as courage, as well as political leadership, domestically, in both countries" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

US-#China "The reality is that neither side can put the other one down" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"I think that is a possible misunderstanding on both sides..." he adds, noting many in China believe the US "is in terminal decline"

"#China is not going to disappear" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong "It is not the #SovietUnion. It is not a Potemkin Village front"

"This is a country w/enormous dynamism, talent & determination"

"I would say to both [US & #China] pause, think carefully before you pass forward. It's very dangerous" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

#Taiwan - "I don't think they [#China] want to make a unilateral move, but I think there is a danger and the danger is of miscalculation" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"You are in for a quite difficult period"

#China - "I think they are going to constrain #Taiwan's international space as much as they can but I do not think they will make a unilateral, unprovoked move" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong "It's high risk & even if it works, the victory would be pyrrhic"

There are areas where US, #China "need to work together" per #Singapore's @leehsienloong

"If you are talking about nuclear nonproliferation, if you want a deal w/#NorthKorea, you cannot do it without China"