Lee kuan Yew Meet the Press Interview

Lee Kuan Yew answers questions from a panel for a Meet the Press Interview. This aired in 1967.He was the first prime minister of Singapore. Here he explains that he wishes the US should use restraint in the Vietnam War. As he states “it is not black and white.” Prime Minister Yew explains that Asia has suffered under colonialism and East Asian states are seeking to procure independence and respectability in the world. The United States was in a sense imposing a system on South Vietnam that was not compatible, while simultaneously pushing the limits of the containment policy. This is where Prime Minister Yew becomes critical of US policy. He did not believe the US should be dictating policy to South Vietnam. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew also seem to predict the rise of China as a global power. He states in the interview that China would not pose a major threat to the region and that it could benefit Singapore. China later did readjust itself on a more open market model and by the 2000s  was a major world power. Prime Minister Yew also points out the fact that why collective security in Asia would not work  based on the NATO model. Asian nations were suspicious of US intentions in the region, because Vietnam looked like an imperialist war. What Prime Minister Yew was trying to articulate was that Americans need to understand Asia and its people better. This is more important now, seeing as globalization has brought the world’s populations in closer contact.

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