Exercise caution on nationalism

On Aug 23, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in response to an article, "Lee Hsien Loong: China could gain Diaoyu Islands but lose its international standing", in a popular Chinese language tabloid. The Singapore ministry said the article on Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's remark at the 19th Nikkei International Conference on the Future of Asia was "inaccurate" and "misleading".

The tabloid rebutted quickly, saying that it had just re-printed the article from a Hong Kong newspaper. There is no need to cast any more aspersions on anybody, but all parties involved should learn a lesson from the incident.