Debated in Parliament on 21 Oct 2013.
Mr Nicholas Fang asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) what will be the long-term impact of President Barack Obama's recent absence from the APEC Summit in Bali; and (b) whether this is an example of potential challenges which can derail the US' strategic pivot to Asia.
It was understandable that US President Barack Obama could not attend the APEC meetings in Indonesia and the East Asia Summit (EAS) and inaugural ASEAN-US Summit in Brunei, given the pressing need for him to remain in the United States. The impact would be far worse if the US government could not resolve its fiscal problem, compared to the cancellation of a US Presidential, which could be reinstated to the region at any time.
Nevertheless, the gridlock in the US' domestic politics and the fact that the US' fiscal position continues to be imbalanced send a worrying signal to the international community. This has implications beyond the economic uncertainty and impact caused by the gridlock. It has led many observers, both
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in the US and internationally, to voice concerns about the impact on the US' ability to exercise global leadership. President Obama's presence at the key meetings in Asia would have been a good opportunity to reinforce his personal, high-level commitment to the US' rebalancing policy towards the Asia Pacific.
However, the fact is that the US remains resilient and innovative. It has a dynamic economy that continues to produce and attract top talent. Despite the political challenges and domestic distractions, the US remains a key player in our region. US leaders are fully cognisant of the mutual benefit that all parties stand to gain from the US' continued engagement of Asia.
Secretary of State John Kerry stood in as President Obama's representative. He and the other regional leaders had positive and productive discussions at APEC, the EAS and ASEAN-US Summit. Good progress was made on important issues like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Singapore will host the next TPP Ministerial meeting in December, which we hope will help us work towards its substantive conclusion this year.
Thank you, Mdm Speaker, and I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I have one supplementary question: the solution or whatever compromise that seems to have been reached in the US, appears to have just postponed some of the inherent problems in the system for barely a few more months. With further development and engagement with the US imminent and, as the Senior Minister of State mentioned, with the upcoming TPP, are there greater concerns on the part of the Ministry in terms of how the potential of the "kicking of the can down the road" would continue to impact Singapore and ASEAN and US relations in the months ahead?
Where Singapore is concerned, we will continue to engage our partners – US, China – all in balance. We have to pray that they get their domestic priorities right because what they decide in the future will have a lot of impact on the global world. The constant engagement by the world with the US will continue, so that they understand the impact that their decisions have on the region and the international community.
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