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Weathering challenges ahead: Clarity of thought is critical
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Most Singaporeans have a poor understanding of America's strengths and China's weaknesses, and this leads to distortions of judgment, says the author.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Singaporeans are taking a greater interest in international affairs - as they should - but greater interest is not matched by greater understanding and that is particularly so with regard to the foremost challenge of our time: US-China strategic competition.
Too many Singaporeans seem to have bought into the trope of the 21st century being the Asian century - "Asia" being a polite way to refer to China - just as the 20th century was the so-called American century. This trope and the related idea tirelessly propagated by Beijing and its apologists, that the East is rising and the West declining, are drastic and dangerous simplifications of a far more complex reality.
