A Singaporean think-tank has found that 66% of Singaporean opinion leaders would side with China over the United States if forced to choose - a striking figure for one of Washington's closest partners in the region.

Europeans should resist filing this under "Asian story." Singapore (and ASEAN more broadly) sit in Europe's predicament: the US is their most important security partner and China is their most important trade partner – and they would rather not choose at all.

“If The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were forced to align itself with one of the strategic rivals, which should it choose?”