Singapore has done very well for the last 60 years since independence. We weathered the ups and downs of global financial crises, recessions and structural reforms, but the intense geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, complicated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has converted our region, East Asia, unprecedentedly into a dangerous hot spot.

There is no doubt our internal good governance and cohesion contributed hugely to our success. We became an independent state at the time of American unwavering leadership in a bipolar world during the Cold War. Fortuitously, after our independence, the underlying conditions or trends were for the integration of the world economies and globalisation. These trends favoured small states and Singapore made a living, still makes a living, and prospered through globalisation. China’s decision to adopt the market economy with “socialist characteristics” and engage with the world economy created tremendous opportunities for many countries, but particularly enabled our region to grow with it.