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Guard critical thinking as US-China rivalry heats up
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Singaporeans and their Asean neighbours are not mere bystanders who can escape unscathed when the Cold War between the two big powers turns hot.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Leslie Fong, Leslie Fong for The Straits Times
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While it makes eminent sense for Singapore as a sovereign state not to take sides in the escalating geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States, this should not mean its citizens must suspend their faculties for critical thinking and not discern fact from fabrication.
It is not an idle pursuit to try and form an informed judgment about which of the two big powers poses the greater threat to peace and stability in this region. Is the US really out to help defend freedom of navigation in this region and a rules-based international order against an increasingly encroaching China - or is that just a ruse to contain the latter's rise and maintain America's global hegemony?
