The wife of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Ho Ching, is being praised by netizens for being seen carrying a S$14.80 (RM44.60) purse during a recent official visit to the White House with her husband. “The answer is to make sure that globalization and trade is working for us and not against us”, Obama told joint news conference after talks with Lee in the Oval Office.
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Similarly, the Obama administration has gone to great lengths to build relations with the ten-country Association of Southeast Asia Nations but has failed in its lobbying to get the group to speak with one strong voice against China’s territorial claims. But Lee’s Washington visit comes as opposition to the TPP intensifies in the United States. It also marked the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations between the USA and Singapore, an island nation of about 5.7 million people.
Obama said the USA and Singapore shared a “common vision of a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific and a more secure world”. We’re bound together by history, by family and by friendship. Singapore’s official visit to Washington is a reminder of the pressure-cooker in the Pacific that awaits the next occupant of the White House.
The guest list was a Who’s Who of the political, entertainment, business and diplomatic fields, and included best-selling author Amy Tan, Golden Globe victor Keri Russell, former U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, former USA secretary of state Henry Kissinger and AOL chief executive Timothy Armstrong. The U.S. experienced the perils of forcing a choice previous year, when friends and allies including Australia, South Korea and Singapore joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank despite discouragement from Washington.
“Our experience of American presidential elections has been that… after the elections, in a calmer, cooler atmosphere, positions are rethought, strategies are nuanced, and a certain balance is kept in the direction of the ship of the state. It doesn’t turn completely upside down”, Lee observed.
“The Americans take pride in having a system with checks and balances so that it’s not so easy to do things, but it’s not so easy to completely mess things up”.
Mr Lee also devoted much of his speech to praising the attributes of the U.S., adding that Singapore admires America’s dynamism, vibrancy and capacity for self-renewal. (Laughter.) But I was struck by your focus, your informed interest in Asia, and your desire to cement America’s role in it.
They also emphasized the importance of all participating countries to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement expeditiously, and both committed to strengthen trade capacity building among TPP members.
“(This) shows what can be done even during “lame duck” periods”, said Mr Lee to laughter from the audience. The comments prompted applause and laughs from an audience acutely aware of the political winds opposing the agreement.
Dinner will open with Maryland blue crab salad tossed in an Asian citrus curd and rimmed with slivered baby cucumbers. The salad course showcased heirloom tomatoes from OH paired with lime basil from Michelle Obama’s garden, as well as mangoes, cucumbers, green papayas and soursop sorbet.
Susie Morrison, the White House’s executive pastry chef, also prepared an edible footed tray fashioned from caramelised almond nougat.
I would definitely agree with the New York Times in them saying that Obama will be leaving the White House a nerdier place than when he found it, and sincerely hope that the next US President continues this event. Guests were entertained with R&B soul singer, Chrisette Michelle, after dinner.
The black-tie dinner, in honor of Singapore’s First Couple, was the 12th state dinner for the Obamas.
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