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S’pore’s ties with the US based on ‘strategic congruence of views’: PM Lee

SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hopes to further develop Singapore’s ties with the United States when he meets President Donald Trump in Washington next week, noting that relations between the two countries are based on a “basic strategic congruence of views” about the world and the region.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong talks with US President Donald Trump during the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany earlier in July 8, 2017. Reuters file photo

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong talks with US President Donald Trump during the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany earlier in July 8, 2017. Reuters file photo

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SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hopes to further develop Singapore's ties with the United States when he meets President Donald Trump in Washington next week, noting that relations between the two countries are based on a "basic strategic congruence of views" about the world and the region.

In an interview with business news outlet CNBC ahead of his working trip to the US from Saturday (Oct 21), Mr Lee also revealed that national carrier Singapore Airlines will ink an agreement with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing to buy more planes.

"I think that's a done deal," said Mr Lee, without giving further details.

SIA confirmed on Friday that the signing of the agreement involves 39 new aircraft it had expressed an intention to buy from Boeing in February. The purchase includes 20 of Boeing's newest and largest 777 variant, the 777-9. Delivery of the planes is expected to start from 2020.

Mr Lee is making an official working visit to Washington DC from October 21 to 26 at the invitation of Mr Trump. This visit will be Mr Lee's second trip to the White House in just over a year.

In August last year, Mr Lee – at the invitation of then President Barack Obama - paid an official visit to the US and was hosted to a state dinner to commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. It was the first official visit to the US by a Singapore Prime Minister in 31 years.

Mr Trump will receive Mr Lee at the White House on Oct 23. During his visit, Mr Lee will also meet key administration officials as well as leaders of the US legislature. He will also take part in a moderated dialogue at the Council of Foreign Relations and speak at the Economic Club of Washington DC.

Since Mr Trump's electoral victory last November, he and Mr Lee have spoken to each other on at least three occasions. They also met on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July.

In his interview with CNBC on Thursday, Mr Lee described Mr Trump as a "confident" man who has a "very set view of the world and of people", adding: "We will work with him. He has been elected, he has a mandate from the American voters and he represents the United States of America."

Asked if he felt Mr Trump has backed down in recent months on campaign promises like putting "America first", Mr Lee said the current administration, not unlike its predecessors, is adjusting to the political realities of governance.

"Every administration has a settling-in process. And there's always an adjustment, between what you can say during a campaign and what you find are the possibilities and the imperatives when you win the election and you enter the Oval Office. And the Trump administration is not different," Mr Lee told CNBC.

"Perhaps the adjustment is bigger in this case because President Trump represented such a radically different rethink to so many things which the American policy intelligentsia had considered to be shared conventional wisdom. But reality and forces of events press down on every president."

The Trump administration's withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, and its hardline position on the North American Free Trade Agreement have sparked concerns that the US is turning inwards.

Mr Lee expressed hopes, however, that the US will continue to have a "clear sense" of its stakes globally and the level of mutual dependence between the superpower and its friends and allies.

During his trip, Mr Lee said he will reiterate the message that Asia is important to American interests, and that Washington must maintain the political will to stay engaged in the region in order to continue contributing to its peace and stability.

He added: "What is most important is not just the amount of (military) forces you have in theatre, but the political will and the focus and the political direction ... to know that Asia is important to the US – that the US will cultivate its relations with Asia, that the US will continue to contribute to the peace and stability of Asia.

"It is something which I say on every visit to the US. It is a message which bears repeating ... because the US has so many other preoccupations, domestically and also internationally."

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