Asian perspectives of the United States have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent”, Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on the sidelines of an international security meeting.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion at the Munich Security Conference, he said that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed.
One example is that from the time of then-US president John F Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, when the image of the US was of a country that would not allow tyranny such as colonial control to be replaced by another form of tyranny.
Now, “the image has changed from liberator to great disruptor to a landlord seeking rent”, according to a prepared text of Dr Ng’s remarks posted on a government website over the weekend.
The remarks came after US President Donald Trump’s administration blindsided historic Nato allies with plans to directly negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the future of the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
The fear for many officials who were gathered for the conference in Germany is that by dialling back support for Ukraine, Trump is inviting Putin to probe Nato’s willingness to defend the alliance’s eastern borders.
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US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, meanwhile, said the US deserves “payback” from Ukraine for its support against the Russian invasion and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky would be “very wise” to accept a minerals deal offered by the Trump team.
Zelensky has rejected a US draft agreement that would give Washington access to critical minerals in the war-battered nation because it didn’t offer investments and sufficient protections.
Trump said that Zelensky would be involved in peace talks with Russia, after top US advisers suggested the negotiations might go on without him.
In its first month, the new Trump administration has made clear that it is willing to quickly alter defence and economic policies that have been in place for decades.
It is a shift that has drawn attention in Asia, where the US has stationed tens of thousands of troops, as nations there seek to navigate persisting tensions between the US and China.
Singapore, like much of South-east Asia, has sought a middle path in an increasingly complicated geopolitical picture, seeking to balance ties with the US as a major security partner and source of investment, and one of its biggest trade partners in China.
Under previous US president Joe Biden, the US worked to form a lattice of security arrangements in the region as a counter to Chinese assertiveness in places such as the South China Sea.
Another persistent security concern is China’s pledge to bring Taiwan under its control someday, by force if necessary. BLOOMBERG
