High-level meetings between US, China an essential first step: Vivian Balakrishnan

Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister has said that recent high-level meetings between the US and China are an essential first step. But enormous strategic challenges mean not everything can be immediately resolved. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan is in the United States, where he met Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week before Mr Blinken travelled to China.

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[deschan]

Reality, Nothing Change. Does this "ponding" guy knows what he is saying?

[diazvirdani]

*China🇨🇳 have border disputes with Taiwan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei.*
make border agreement & keep peace

[devildevil]

Modi just visited USA, with US trusted India 100% with high military technology transfer from US to India, the world knows what that means 😂😂😂

[stickymoney]

Let's keep our eyes peeled on what Sinophobic bots ArabicReja973 & LastChang has to say about this video.

I can guarantee you it is not relevant, sinophobic and ridiculous.

[lonewolf]

(Blinken Watches Silently As Xi Jinping 'Lectures' Him and U.S. on 'Sincerity, Mutual Respect')
HIndustan Times.

[nicklee]

Both sides should decouple; all those meetings are for show only; there is actually nothing to discuss.

[MartinHao]

Dr Balakrishnan’s tenancy commenced in October 2019 and was renewed in October 2021. On 16 July 2021, URA received an application from a company to carry out at 31 Ridout Road: “Proposed retention of temporary addition & alteration works to existing 2-storey conservation bungalow”.

There would almost certainly have been discussions, negotiations and agreement between the tenant and landlord on the proposed works before application was made to carry out those works.

[KPY]

There's no point talking when the senile old man can torpedo all efforts from both sides.

[ttkoh]

Let's hope the new President will call for a COI [under the INQUIRIES ACT 2007] on the Ridout case.

[ArabicReja]

At the G20 summit, Chinese Xi Jinping should have asked President Biden 🇺🇲 for
*- forgiveness* for the Wuhan pandemic, and
*- leniency* from the Chip restrictions.
That might have lowered tensions.

[ttkoh]

You know what can be more Worse? if I read correctly, it was reported in the news that they went on to extend the lease without needing to re-bid and the paper gave excuse that somebody else did the same to paint the picture as if its nothing wrong.

[truthfinder]

A temporary relief, I am comparing it to aspirin for a terminally ill patient, now, after Secratary Austin's hand-shake with his PLA counterpart, Secretary Blinken's Beijing trip can be compared to an aspirin compound, with 2 ingredients: A: Austin; B: Blinken.

[MartinHao]

We will never know why PM Lee did not decide to appoint a current or retired judge or civil servant, or any other non-political, non-partisan but capable person, to head the review. A review headed by any such person would have been undoubtedly considered as an independent review.

Anyway, a review is better than no review. We shall have to trust SM Teo and his team to measure the conduct of SLA and that of the two ministers with a fair and objective yardstick.

By the way, SM Teo’s review seems to be confined to Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan, presumably because they were the two ministers cited by Kenneth Jeyaretnam in his blogposts.

[cholesterol]

Hoping doesnt solve anything. You do what you have to do to achieve desired result.

[mindpuzzle]

Dr. Balikrishna you should not be celebrating anything. The DC politics is divergent from mainstreet politics and in the end mainstreet will have our way. I wrote the following piece in response to the Blinken trip to China which is demonstrative of this.

It was Monday morning and like most mornings I load up the news and begin to read. This particular morning happened to be the day after a long awaited meeting for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's trip, the first in 5 years for an SoS, to China and so naturally the news feeds were full of how awesome it was that Xi Jinping met with Blinken. Idiot journalist hyping up what appears to be nothing, nothing new.

As I scroll through the feed I come across a video clip of the final meeting and I look on in abject horror as Xi setting at the head of the table as though in command of not only China but the United States as well. In that moment I didn't need to speak a word of Chinese or read the translation to understand what that message conveyed Xi believes he is the leader and the US his puppet state there to pay homage.

The subsequent articles didn't fair anybetter as I got to the meat of the discussions. Not a single major issue of the US was resolved. Not a single concession from China.

The US though had conceded alot, first Blinken agreed to more people to people contact which from my perspective was likely met with celebration in China that the US would make it all the easier for the power and corrupting influence of the CCP to seep into the US. All the while Chinese police stations are flashing in my mind and my subconscious is screaming what have I done.

Then Blinkens commitment for more air flight from China into the US and I'm thinking Xi must have been jumping for joy at the ease of facilitating their spies entry into the US. All the while spy balloons and Cuban listening posts are flashing through my mind at lighting speed and my subconscious is screaming at myself my God what have I done.

And then the coup de grace comes, Blinken gets on the plane and nothing.

My mind runs into overdrive, decades of US communities destroyed all because my government did nothing.  Fentynil flooding the streets killing hundreds of thousand and my government did nothing. Covid killing millions and my government did nothing. All the while the CCP using the diplomatic process to stall as a mechanism to facilitate harm on my people. And my subconscious start screaming betrayal.

This corruption this reversion to the status quo ante a continuous cycle of the CCP stalling for time and resulting in the very fabric of working class communities to be utterly destroyed. And now the final act of betrayal in the seemingly innocent act of doing nothing and reversion to the cycle of harm inflicted on my people begins anew. By China this was understood but by the guy I supported how could he perpetuate this cycle of harm? My God how could I be so naive, my God what have I done.

I don't know what I expected but this.... the 30 shekels and the final betrayal in a seemingly insignificant diplomatic engagements. At least with the US not talking to the CCP I had that thin barrier between me and this final meeting with Judas. The need to speak with Xi outweighing the lives and communities of working class in the torture scales of diplomacy. My God what have I done.

I don't have it within me to be angry though, anger is long since spent in trying to avert this catastrophe. No alls that is left is the profound gut reaching guilt my God what have I done. I supported this administration I encourage others to support this administration and now this act so simple in its application and yet so profound it its consequence to follow. And now a sense of overwhelming loss sets un. My God what have I done.

My rational mind understands the need for talking but at the same time that same rational mind also recognizes the pattern and the need to act and that failure to act by Biden by Blinken has just become a weight around my own neck. I supported them I trusted them and now they've taken us back to where we were before. More communities will be destroyed, newer more powerful synthetics will flood our streets, the next bioweapon waiting to be released worse than covid. A pattern on pause now continued in the play told by an idiot. My God what have I done.

I watch in abject horror as the Biden Administration plans one meeting after the next to slam home that final act of betrayal. I know with each meeting inaction will occur as sure as the sun will rise and because nobody is foolish enough to believe the CCP is acting in good faith, the stalling for time is all but guaranteed.  And i ask myself my God what should I do? How do I fix this? Is there even a fix? How could I condem the next generation to the same cycle of harm that befell mine? I am now the betrayed become betrayer rejoice at what I have wrott.

[lonewolf]

(Did President Xi diss Antony Blinken? 安柏然) Note: segment edited out of cna's video.
"It may go unnoticed by many, but those familiar with China are reading a lot into this video of President Xi Jinping and Secretary of State Antony Blinken."
"...after shaking hands watch how the president directly walks off towards his
seat without first signaling to the secretary to join him in sitting down..."

[huangzb]

Definitely, he seem to enjoy paying tribute to papa, USA