Photo: AFP/Mark Cheong
Eurasia
16/04/2024 17:01
Lee, 72, will formally advise the city-state’s president to appoint Wong, who is currently deputy prime minister and finance minister, to succeed him, his office said in a brief statement. Wong, who has the unanimous support of lawmakers in the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), will be sworn in at the national palace later the same day, it said.
Lee has served as prime minister and head of the PAP since August 2004.
Lee announced last November that he would retire this year and has already named Wong as his designated successor. Lee originally planned to step down before turning 70, but those plans were shelved because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For any country, a leadership transition is a significant moment. Lawrence and the 4G (fourth-generation) team have worked hard to gain the people’s trust, notably during the pandemic,” Lee said in a Facebook post on Monday. “I ask all Singaporeans to give Lawrence and his team your full support, and work with them to create a brighter future for Singapore.”
Lee has said there is no reason to delay the political transition and that passing the baton to Wong before national elections due next year will allow the 51-year-old politician to win his own mandate and take the country forward.
As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to complain about the cost of U.S. military bases in the Indo-Pacific, suggesting that host countries should cover the expenses, Jeffrey Sachs, professor at Columbia University, offers a win-win solution for all in a recent article: close the bases and bring U.S. servicemen back home.
Trade and tariff wars “will produce no winner,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday as he began his Southeast Asian trip in Vietnam.
Viktor Orbán was in for a diplomatic blitz during his visit to Türkiye. After the Turkish-Hungarian summit, photos posted on social media show that he met several leaders, and on Saturday, he held bilateral talks with the President-in-Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Prime Minister of Georgia.