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Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss trade, security and other issues, which likely will include tensions with the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions.
According to the Singapore Embassy, Prime Minister Lee and President Trump have spoken by phone three times and met in person on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany this summer. But this will be the prime minister’s first visit to the Trump White House.
One prime topic for discussion is the illegal nuclear and ballistic missile program of the DPRK. Pyongyang still has an ambassador serving in Singapore and it’s expected that Trump will put pressure on Prime Minister Lee to remove the DPRK ambassador from Singapore as a way to show displeasure with its program. The White House has been doing that with other governments that have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang
Prime Minister Lee is also active at the APEC regional economic conference and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. He’s taken a different approach than Trump when it comes to international trade, one that’s much closer to China’s.
Singapore signed on to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which Trump pulled out of early in his term. At the G20 meeting in July, Prime Minister Lee said, “we are both strongly committed to an open and international trading system, the rule of law, and sustainable development.”
According to the Singapore Embassy, Lee will spend most of Monday with President Trump and the leaders will hold a joint press conference. Lee will also make two public speeches on economic and security issues across the region.
(CGTN)
