It's been eight months into the year, but it feels as if eight years have passed. 2020 has been more than eventful - it marks a watershed in world politics: US-China relations have sunk to their lowest point since formal relations were established 40 years ago.

Are China and the United States in a new Cold War? Officials in Beijing have strenuously objected to new Cold War language, while pedantic scholars may argue that American-Soviet rivalry after 1945 is unlike the present times. But this is all irrelevant to Singapore.