Frank dialogue needed in Sino-U.S. relations: Expert

China and the United States need to hold more dialogue to put their "unstable relationship" back on track, the head of a top think tank in Singapore said.

"Dialogue doesn't mean we all smile and just … kiss each other all the time. But it does mean a frank, candid discussion … and we talk through challenges and differences," Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said.

In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden held their first in-person meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. During the three-hour talk, Xi said China and the U.S. need to bring relations back on track with healthy and stable growth for the benefit of the two countries and the world as a whole.

In an interview with China Daily, Tay said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken should not have canceled his scheduled visit to China in February due to the stray balloon incident, where an unmanned civilian airship inadvertently entered U.S. airspace.

Tay characterized the China-U.S. relationship as an unstable one that draws negative energies from other phenomena such as U.S. domestic politics.

"With the election season coming up … I think that the Sino-American relationship may end up (as) political football and people are going to fight over (it) domestically," Tay said.

Amid the Sino-U.S. competition, it is important for his country Singapore to keep its society cohesive, especially given that nearly 75 percent of its 5.6 million population is ethnically Chinese.

"I hope that Singapore continues to be, as best it can, a friend to each side when those offers of cooperation (from various countries) make sense for us," said Tay, citing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Belt and Road Initiative as examples of the city-state's cooperation with China.

With China pushing for post-pandemic economic recovery, Tay believes that the country's rebound will help the whole region.

New drivers

Tay said he expects to see more cooperation between China and Singapore in areas such as sustainability and digitalization, as these are the new drivers of the economy.

On regional politics, Tay noted that in the past few years, there have been efforts by non-ASEAN countries to bring the region together, but the moves sometimes have the effect of destabilizing the region.

"ASEAN's goal is to be very inclusive … almost all these U.S.-led initiatives (are) quite clearly exclusive and only those invited can join," said Tay, referring to initiatives such as the"Indo-Pacific" Economic Framework and the security pact AUKUS involving Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S..

He said ASEAN needs an inclusive and more equal approach.

"We must deal with differences, but we mustn't let the differences spill over and poison the rest of the discussion," said Tay, as he expressed hope that countries will work together to address regional and global challenges such as climate change.

With the international landscape rapidly changing, Tay said his institute hopes to do its part by better engaging the emerging generation who are trying to go out into the region and the world, including China, and helping Singaporeans understand the global tensions as well as opportunities.