Be realistic, yet confident as new world order takes shape: Vivian

Republic can emerge stronger if it remains principled and S'poreans stay united, he says

- Tham Yuen-C

Global conditions that had allowed Singapore to flourish and which are now in retreat are not a temporary change, and the country has to be careful and realistic about the profoundly unpredictable and volatile new world order that is taking shape, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on March 3.

But this note of caution is not a call for pessimism, because Singapore has good reason to be confident in its future, provided it stays principled, relevant, and united as a people, he added.

Speaking during the debate on his ministry's budget, Dr Balakrishnan said this was his 10th year as foreign minister, and he had never seen the world more disrupted, volatile or dangerous.

While generations of hard-working Singaporeans had built up the country into a "beacon of economic and social success", they had done so in a world of proliferating free trade, global supply chains and multinational enterprises, with countries observing the rules of institutions like the United Nations and international treaties.

But today, big powers are taking a narrower view of their national interests, while the lack of trust and deep anxieties about each other has ushered in an era of sharper rivalry and fracturing supply chains, he said.

"Countries have turned inwards, ostensibly in the name of national security resilience and de-risking, in order to secure their individual interests in this turbulent environment," said Dr Balakrishnan.

"This is not merely a sudden, temporary change in diplomatic weather. This is geo-strategic climate change."

The world may in fact be reverting to a time when it was divided into blocks controlled by big powers, which by definition must mean the loss of choice and autonomy for small states, he added.