As Donroe doctrine hastens multi-polar world, India, China will stabilise relations: George Yeo, ex- Singapore FM

As US President Donald Trump’s new ‘Donroe doctrine’ hastens the carving up of the global order into a multi-polar world, India and China will work towards stabilising their relations, feels Singapore’s former foreign minister and prominent strategic thinker George Yong-Boon Yeo.

George Yeo, in an exclusive interview to UNI, stressed that in the world order which is being re-shaped, India, China and Russia will be “countervailing forces ” and that Europe will “have to take care of itself” as America retreats to taking charge of its near hemisphere.

He pointed out that at one time India’s leadership had thought the US would be the Asian giant’s “principal ally” against China. However, “after the Pahalgam (terror attack in Kashmir), instead of supporting India, US President Donald Trump invited Pakistan to lunch.” (Field Marshall Asim Munir was invited to the White House within a month of the Pahalgam attack in April, 2025, much to India’s consternation).

Yeo, who is in New Delhi to deliver the C.D.Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised every year by the India International Centre, said “Trump is fast-forwarding the future (of the global order)... towards multi-polarism” and as a result both India and China, who “doff their caps” to each other, may well “stabilise their relationship.”

The former foreign minister, who is also a recipient of India’s Padma Bhushan award, pointed out that the US President “thought he could browbeat India” over tariffs, “but India did not accept that”. Similarly, in China’s case, the tariff threat did not work, as “China played the rare earth card”, forcing the US to pull back on its threats.

“They have an adult relationship … I think India and China will now stabilise their relationship. They are both ancient civilisations and each doffs its hat to the other,” he remarked, adding that “even though social media goes banana at times, the leadership of India and China have never spoken out against each other.”

He pointed to the ambivalent stand taken by the US President on China’s aggressive drills against Taiwan and said that in the light of that, all concerned nations – “China, Taiwan, Japan and India … will keep all options open.”

Yeo, who has always supported a close relationship between India and ASEAN and been viewed as a friend by India’s leadership, also said, “It will be best for India to protect itself and concentrate on economic growth. In the end, economic might is greater than (military) force.”