World News | COVID-19 Accelerated Pre-existing Geo-political Trends: Singapore Minister

Singapore, Jun 11 (PTI) Singapore's Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said on Thursday that the city-state can no longer assume that open markets and globalisation are part of the "natural order" of things after COVID-19 sped up pre-existing geo-political trends.

"COVID-19 has accelerated pre-existing geo-political trends. The US-China rivalry has intensified. Global supply chains have been up-ended. In quite a few countries, social divisions have grown starker, fracturing social and political stability,” Teo was quoted as saying by the Channel News Asia.

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"This has in turn fuelled a wave of nativism and protectionism,” he said in the third of six televised speeches by ministers on the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Countries are acting unilaterally to protect their own short-term interests. As a result, international organisations like the WHO (World Health Organization) are handicapped as they seek a coordinated global response,” he said.

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Such developments threaten the “international system and global order”, which previously provided opportunities for all nations to grow peacefully.

"Generations of Singaporeans have grown up believing that globalisation and open markets are part of the natural order of things. We can no longer assume that this is so,” Teo said in a speech as part of a series of national broadcasts in which Cabinet ministers lay out the nation's plans for the future.

The first of these speeches was delivered by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on June 7.

He stressed that a “bleak outcome” is not a foregone conclusion.

"What each country does, together with like-minded partners, can make a difference,” he said.

"The COVID-19 crisis will affect all of us. It should motivate all countries to come together to build a more cooperative world, rather than become a reason to divide us. Pursuing narrow self-interest can leave all of us worse off, while enlightened self-interest means working together for a better outcome for everyone," he said.

Singapore on Thursday reported 422 new coronavirus cases, majority of them foreign workers living in dormitories, taking the total number of infections in the country to 39,387.

After the pandemic subsides, there will be a “long road to economic recovery”, Teo said.

There will be a need for new international protocols in order to continue cross-border exchanges as well as a need to update, reform and strengthen the global trading system to reflect “new realities”, he said.

"We hope that the major powers will exercise leadership to help the world overcome COVID-19. This will set the tone and lay the foundation, beyond COVID-19, for a renewed open, united and inclusive world,” he said.

""Then humanity can address important shared challenges that require collective global action, such as violent extremism, nuclear proliferation, cybersecurity, future pandemics and climate change. No single country – big or small – can solve these problems on its own.”

What is unchanged is the fact that Singapore will always be a small, multi-racial country surrounded by bigger neighbours and remain exposed to “external forces” beyond its control, said the senior Minister.

Singapore will continue to make itself “useful to the world” even amid the pandemic, assured Teo.

This means working with partner countries to keep supply chains open as well as contributing to global action to tackle climate change, he explained.

The COVID-19 crisis has been a “stringent” test of Singapore's “ability and resolve” to tackle challenges at home, he said.

“The crisis has stretched our resources and capacity. But we have been able to orientate, adapt and act rapidly as the virus came upon us in waves. Each wave required us to develop and deploy novel measures to slow down the spread, and contain it,” he added.

And as the country recovers from the pandemic, there is a need to build a more resilient Singapore, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)