US, West ‘uncomfortable’ with changing world, view China as a threat: Singapore’s George Yeo

• George Yeo said the US and the West are ‘uncomfortable’ with the idea of a multipolar world given their long dominance
• The ex-foreign minister of Singapore also said the rise of China has prompted countries to increasingly view Beijing as a challenge and even a threat

Dewey Sim in Singapore

The United States and other Western nations are “uncomfortable” with the idea of a multipolar world given their long dominance but they should not resist it, Singapore’s ex-foreign minister has said.

George Yeo, who was the country’s top diplomat from 2004 to 2011, said the West had been used to the “dominance of their values being universal [and] of judging others against their own standards”.

“But it’s changing,” he told a forum on Tuesday organised by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

While the rise of China has been the starkest – which has prompted countries to increasingly view Beijing as a challenge and even a threat – recent developments including the war in Ukraine has shown that other powers, like India, were a “satellite of nobody”.

"The US doesn’t like multipolarity and is fighting it. My fear is it will exhaust itself fighting because it will fail,” he said.

China, on the other hand, has always dealt with multiple influences due to the fact that it borders so many nations.

Yeo also spoke about the inevitability of a multipolar world, pointing to some estimates which suggested that by 2050, one in two babies born would be Muslim.

“Whether we like it or not, the world is going to change and the multipolar world, to me, is on the cards. It’s already been born. It’s growing up,” he said.

Instead of resisting, Yeo said it would be better for the US to help crystallise a multipolar world because Washington would naturally be the first among equals for various reasons including its existing power and the wide use of the English language.

“The quicker the US and maybe the collective West grasp this and work to shape it, the better they are to preserve their position,” he added.

In the slow shift towards a multipolar world, Yeo said Southeast Asia would play an important role. His rationale was how countries have shown the ability to intricately handle geopolitical tensions. At November’s G20 summit in Bali, host country Indonesia had to deal with a “complicated field”, such as how the US wanted to exclude Russia from the forum.

To a greater degree, Southeast Asia has a rich history and diverse cultures that have connected with the wider world. Yeo cited how all forms of Christianity, Buddhism and Islam can be found in the region.

“It’s not just the balmy atmosphere … It is the acceptance of those who are not like ourselves. This gives us a special position as the world enters into a troubled phase,” he said.