SHANGHAI<\/span> \u2013 When China prospers, more opportunities open up for Singapore and its businesses. And it is such shared interests that underpin the relationship, as opposed to having the same ethnic majority, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.<\/p>\n He added that as long as there are multiple participants in Asia \u2013 and Singapore has partnerships with all the major economies in the world \u2013 the Republic can manage any dependencies and avoid being over-reliant on a single partner.<\/p>\n \u201cIdentity is something which we have to manage, whether we have a lot of engagements with them or less,\u201d SM Lee said of Singapore-China relations when asked about anxieties over these issues in an interview with Singapore media in Shanghai on May 22.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a Chinese-majority country, but we are a multiracial society. We are a separate country with separate sovereignty from China. We cooperate as friends and in order to have mutual benefit,\u201d he told the media on the final day of a five-day visit.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I meet my Chinese partners, I try to explain it to them. And I think they kind of understand when they see me, and they see my delegation, and I come here with a multiracial delegation,\u201d SM Lee said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what really will help them to understand is if they visit Singapore, and they spend time with us and they see how society operates… I think it will help them to understand why, while we are good friends and we wish each other well, sometimes our interests do not completely align, and well, then friends have to be able to manage these differences in views,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n With China expanding its influence through its growing economic prowess and massive infrastructure spending, and the US seeking to reassert American dominance in the Western Hemisphere, there has been growing concern about a fracturing global order and pressure on Singapore to pick a side.<\/p>\n Noting the importance of Asia to major powers around the world \u2013 from the Japanese to the Europeans and even to the Americans \u2013 SM Lee made the point that having rival spheres of influence where certain countries are excluded from one part of the world or another, will not be acceptable, including to the Chinese themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we will end up with an exclusive bloc and only one direction to go,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Responding to a question about whether China is seeking more than economic deliverables, SM Lee said: \u201cWhether it\u2019s China, whether it\u2019s America, both participants would, of course, like us to take positions which are more closely aligned with their positions.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cOur attitude is we are friends with both. We do not wish to cross either if we do not need to, but we have to take a stance which is based on Singapore\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n