"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"
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"
"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"
"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
"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"
"I have a sense of urgency...we have to be in a position to make sure that the status quo remains as it applies to #Taiwan"
"We certainly view w/concern many of the actions that we've seen from #Beijing" per @INDOPACOM's Adm Aquilino
#China's action in #HongKong "completely disconnected from the words from #Beijing to adhere to the agreement that was in place" he says, adding same w/#India border
"Some of the leading threats to the American way of life are #cyber enabled - from espionage to influence to attack" Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber Anne Neuberger tells #AspenSecurity
"#SolarWinds was not the 1st case of aggressive Russian cyber activity in int'l space" per @WHNSC's Neuberger
"In the case of #China, there's still that building of consensus around malicious cyber activity, around the need to call it out together" w/allies, per @WHNSC's Neuberger, adding that it "doesn't preclude follow-on activity"
"We've always said peace is the strategic choice of the Arabs..." per #SaudiArabia's @FaisalbinFarhan "What we have to do is focus on working towards a comprehensive solution to the #Palestinian issue"
"We already have an emboldened #Iran" per #SaudiArabia FM @FaisalbinFarhan when asked about US-#Tehran talks on getting back to the #JCPOA "Iran is extremely active in the region w/its negative activity"
On Monday, he told @VOANews' @AyazGul64 "The [Afghan] government cannot get rid of the #Taliban" & "the Taliban cannot conquer Afghanistan & have a gvt & that has the support of the overwhelming majority of the Afghans"
"The Talibs [#Taliban] have been emboldened by the development of recent weeks in terms of the gains they have made & are in a maximalist frame of mind"
.@US4AfghanPeace says US assessment is that neither side can achieve a military solution
"There is no alternative, ultimately, to a political settlement"