Reference News Network January 1 report, the Hong Kong South China Morning Post website published an article titled "Interview with Singapore's Former Foreign Minister Yeo Cheng Hock" on December 22, 2025, authored by Ma Jieyun. The main content is translated as follows:

Yeo Cheng Hock is currently a visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He entered politics in 1988. During his 23 years in the Singapore government, Yeo served in various ministerial roles, ranging from arts, health, trade to foreign affairs.

Reporter: First, let's talk about the Taiwan issue. What is the likelihood of military conflict across the Taiwan Strait?

Yeo Cheng Hock: We don't have a crystal ball. Political situations often develop in unexpected ways. We must consider all possible scenarios. Now imagine that one day the United States may have to withdraw from the Western Pacific due to lack of funds because voters choose butter over guns. This is a possible scenario. In such a case, unification would naturally happen, because I don't think Taiwanese people are willing to sacrifice their lives for "Taiwan independence." Taiwan has not been unified with the mainland only because of the United States. The Taiwan issue is a subset of Sino-US relations. At present, Trump does not want Taiwan to be an issue, because he has bigger agendas to discuss with China.

Recently, when the Chinese and US presidents met in Busan, they did not even mention the Taiwan issue. This is a strong signal to the Taiwanese that the United States does not want the Taiwan issue to affect its negotiations with China. For China, there is no room for negotiation on the Taiwan issue.

Taiwan is part of China, which is the foundation of Sino-US relations. The United States understands this. China has drawn a very clear red line. The United States knows that if it doesn't want to create trouble in Sino-US relations, it should not touch the Taiwan issue.

China's overwhelming tendency is peaceful reunification, but it does not rule out the use of force. How the political scene in Taiwan reacts to this remains to be seen. People are increasingly aware that seeking "Taiwan independence" is a dead end.

It is highly unlikely that the US and China will go to war over the Taiwan issue in the short term. In five years, changes in the relative strength between the US and China will make it more difficult for the US to prevent or delay China's unification.

This has already influenced the way Taiwanese people think, including young people in Taiwan. If young people in Taiwan base their hopes on fantasies, it will only lead to tragedy.

Therefore, it is better to negotiate with Beijing sooner rather than later, as the view of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew many years ago.

Taiwan has its own advantages and can make important contributions to China's long-term development.

Question: What do you think about the recent disputes between Beijing and Tokyo on the Taiwan issue?

Answer: I think this may be due to the fact that Takahashi Asako has just become prime minister. She may not realize the seriousness of her remarks. She is now in a dilemma - retracting those statements would be embarrassing. It is also possible that she thought the US would support her, so she deliberately made these statements to provoke a strong reaction from China, thereby justifying the need to increase defense spending.

But Trump wants to maintain stable relations with China during the remaining time of his term, and he does not want any unnecessary troubles between the US and China. After talking with China, he asked Takahashi to lower the temperature on this issue. However, China will not easily let go of Takahashi, because China must prevent any similar issues from arising in the future.

Therefore, it is unwise for Takahashi to link Taiwan's security with Japan's security.

The deep feelings of the Chinese towards Taiwan should not be underestimated. Kissinger repeatedly wrote about this - in his talks with Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong, they mentioned the One-China issue several times.

How could China forget that it was Japan's aggression that separated Taiwan from the mainland? (Translated by Pan Xiaoyan)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7590325736184070698/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.