新加坡外交部在看法这篇文字时，批评中国《环球时报》在网站上刊登了“不准确”和“具误导性”的报道。
新加坡外交部在其官方网站上刊登发言人声明说：“这篇文章使用耸动的标题，将李总理的谈话断章取义，并严重扭曲并错误报道他的谈话。这样非专业的报道是无益的，可能会伤害双边关系，影响人民之间的联系。”
亚洲新闻台报道说，这篇文章以《中国或得到钓鱼岛但会输掉世界地位》为标题，并称这是引述李总理的讲话。
下面是新加坡外交部网站刊登李显龙谈话的原文：
Moderator: “Education, culture, economics, politics, whatever. So we are interested in…we have a new government here, the Abe administration, and of the China and North Korea, sort of taking that posture towards Abe’s administration. Because Mr Abe seems to be interested in amendment of the Constitution and more independence and that is supposed to be the right-wing now, national union kind of sentiment, is just taking a spring in the Japanese public opinion. And now, we have something to do with the new government. We are interested in how it is the Japanese new government is viewed from the ASEAN nations, particularly your country.”
PM: “Well, I think ASEAN in general and Singapore in particular, we work with the governments of each country as chosen by those countries. And it is the way that democracies work - you elect your government, your government has the responsibility to make decisions for your country and prerogative to decide which direction you want to go. And I think that is our attitude. Specifically on the question you raised on the nationalist sentiments and the questions of constitutional amendment, I would say that this is the prerogative of the countries to decide how they want their constitutions to be and is also the responsibility of the governments to make the wisest choice on these issues. World War II was a massive event for Japan…After the war, it took a long time for relations between Japan and its neighbours to come back to normal because there was not a reconciliation process that happened in Europe. In Europe, the Germans, they repudiated the Nazis, they repudiated Adolf Hitler. Every school child grows up kn
owing that that was a bad period, those were bad people. Germany was now into a new phase. And if you read the French textbooks or the German textbooks, you will get more or less the same story of the Second World War. Maybe not be exactly the same perspective, but basically the same story. It did not happen in Asia between Japan and its neighbours. Many years have passed. As I said just now, the strategic situation is completely different. The populations have grown up. It is a new generation. So it is not the same situation as before. In the case of Singapore, the first generation who lived through the war and the very difficult conditions when the Japanese invaded Singapore, they will never forget the experience. Every year on the anniversary of the fall of Singapore, 15th February, the old people go there to remember the relatives who died and they weep. So they will never forget. My parent’s generation will never forget until the day they die because they lived through that, they know what it was. My gen
eration did not live through that, but we know from our fathers what it was like and their stories. If my father had been taken away, he would not have come back and I would not be here today. My uncle, my mother’s brother, was taken away and never came back. So these memories move some. My children’s generation, they don’t have those memories, not even second-hand; maybe third-hand. So we have moved on. And as a society, we have moved on. In the 1960s, there was a period when we discovered the mass graves where the civilians had been massacred in Singapore. There was an outcry. I remember the day because I saw them coming to dig up the graves next to my school. There was a big outcry, I think the Japanese government made an apology, donated some money and we built a memorial. So between Singapore and Japan, the chapter is closed. Officially, we have moved on. And we have very good relations between Singapore and Japan since then - investments, trade, cooperation in many areas. I think with other countries in
Asia, you have not reached that point. Certainly with China, you are nowhere near that point. With Korea, you have not reached that point. So if you reopen the old subjects - whether it is comfort women, whether it is aggression, whether there is an apology or no apology – well, it is your prerogative to do so, but you have to consider whether this will be helpful in the context of your relations with other Asian countries and whether it is the most important thing you want to do. But that is for Japan to decide.”
Moderator: “I see. I am very struck by your candid comments. I think it is a very rare opportunity to hear your memory. You have a memory; people in Singapore have a memory but they don’t use it in a negative way, in a sense. Whether you keep the memory inside and based on that experience you have to overcome for the future, is that…”
PM: “Well, we try to do that. Every generation grows up in a new environment and new circumstances. The old generation always feels ‘we want them to remember what we remember’, but the young generation did not live through those and they will have to form their own key memories. But at the same time, we hope that the most salient and relevant parts of what the older generation has learnt and seen, sometimes at great human cost, will be passed on and will be able to benefit the next generation.”
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Q: “Thank you very much, Your Excellency, I very much appreciate your encouraging speech. I used to live in Singapore. I really appreciate Singapore and love Singapore. Let me ask you one thing about China. People know China is very important, I agree with you but at the same time, I have a big concern about China’s expansion to the Pacific. China has started saying that not only Okinawa, not only Senkaku, but also Okinawa is under dispute. And also, China proposed to the United States, ‘Let’s divide the Pacific Ocean – East side must belong to the US, west side belongs to China’. For that matter, I am saying that we need to cooperate with each other, with ASEAN, India, Korea and Russia to prevent China from expanding to the Pacific. So close enclosure against China may be necessary. Containment may not be, a bit too strong to do that, but close enclosure against China may be necessary to prevent such aggression. Thank you very much.”
PM: “Well, Singapore is good friends with Japan. Singapore is also good friends with China. So I do not think it is wise for me in Tokyo to criticise China, or anywhere publicly to criticise China. I think that every country in the region benefits from China’s prosperity and progress; hopes to participate in it and hopes to cultivate good relations with China. Certainly all the ASEAN countries do so and I believe even amongst the Japanese people and Japanese companies, many would like to take advantage of the huge market and huge opportunities which China offers. Therefore, we have to work with China and China itself has to see in its own interest to develop in a peaceful way which is not threatening to its neighbours and which enables it to integrate into the global economy. I think their leaders understand this. You watch what they say to themselves. They often remind themselves that it is necessary for China to be a benign power and not to repeat the mistakes of previous powers which have tried to succeed
through force of arms. And some years ago, they had a television series entitled ‘The Rise of Great Powers’ and they listed all the countries, all the great powers, over the last several centuries, starting from the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch, the British, the Americans, the Russians, the Japanese and showing the history of how they succeeded and when they went (to) try for expansion, it did not work. So I think at some level, they understand this. And certainly, if they are taking a long-term approach, they will make this calculation that whether it is the Senkakus, whether it is the South China Sea, what you gain on the Senkakus or the South China Sea, but you lose in terms of your broader reputation and standing in the world, you have to make that calculation very carefully. So I will be very careful about saying, ‘let us make a friendship amongst all the countries which are frightened of China’. I do not think that is a constructive and helpful approach. I think let us all make friends and develop
constructive relations with one another in a multi-dimensional way. Not all links in Asia are centred on China, we also have cooperations between Japan and Asean, between Japan and America, between India and countries in East Asia, I see Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting Japan soon. And also with the United States, which wants to make good relations with China and does not see a division in the Pacific Ocean between the two. So I would be very careful about these over-simplifications and maintain a constructive approach, encourage a constructive approach, so that we do not by our words and actions bring about the outcome we do not want. We take this position consistently. We tell this to the Japanese, we tell this to the Americans, we tell this to the Chinese. Last year, I visited Beijing. I made a speech at the Central Party School, where they send the senior cadres for training, and I explained to the audience in Mandarin why I felt that China’s wisest policy was to maintain their position of restra
int and demonstrate, not just by words but also by its actions. That it works by international norms, that there is room in its international relations for win-win partnerships and relationships of mutual respect and equality. And I think the audience took my point.”
