Venezuela has a very difficult internal situation and has destabilised the region but that doesn’t justify unilateral action without any proper authorisation from another country, Lee said Thursday at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute’s regional outlook forum.
“From the point of view of a small country, if that is the way the world works, we have a problem,” said Lee, who stepped down as prime minister in 2024.
The shock US ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has also emerged as a new source of friction between China and the US as they compete for influence in Latin America.
Lee said a key factor confronting the world is relations between US and China, where fundamental tensions remain even as both superpowers are reluctant to incur the costs of a full-scale trade war.
While the US remains a very important partner for Asia, countries know that China is a major and growing economic might, he said. Washington is stepping back from being an anchor player, and Beijing has been making the right statements on multilateralism, Lee added.
Beijing on Wednesday criticised the Trump administration’s reported call for Venezuela to sever its alliances with US rivals, labelling the move a “bullying act.” This comes as US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping prepare to meet again in April after reaching a trade truce late last year.
China’s goods trade with Latin America has surged since the turn of the century, rising by more than 40 times in that span to US$518 billion in 2024 – challenging the US’s long-established economic dominance in the region.
The former premier took a pragmatic approach to choosing sides. If there’s a fight between two countries, what’s in it for us, Lee said. Singapore will stand up for the principle and this doesn’t mean it’s an enemy of the country whose action it disapproves of, he added.
Asked about tensions related to Taiwan, Lee said the US will be careful not to allow Taipei to upset things.
With this US administration, “there are many things which people have views of, of what it is doing, he said. “On Taiwan, I don’t think they have been doing wrong things recently,” he added.
Lee also touched on Asean. He said it’s not surprising that the world’s major powers, which have economic influence in the region, are able to nudge, encourage and even coerce other countries in the bloc. The US and China are the biggest trading partners for the Southeast Asian nations.