LKY said that, previously Singapore alligned itself with the brits. But then the suez happened, and poundsterling collapsed. Later the brits pulled themselves out of Asia. He knew the end of brits supremacy was coming, so he immediately pivoted to the US, despite he felt somewhat disdain towards Americans who he considered as rude compare to the more "civilized" brits.

Singapore is pragmatic, it still is. But being pragmatic doesn't mean having the ability to read the geopolitics shift. The current Singaporean gov isn't LKY.

In term of the competition between China and the US in attracting the other countries to support them, I would say, China is somewhat winning. In the past, when the US say A, others will say A. China's hardball diplomacy changed that, because now there is a cost for crossing China. Even though China's reputation is somewhat suffering from the hardball diplomacy, but it gave results. Today when the US say A, others will look at China to see what China say. If China say B, others will just keep quiet and say nothing. This in turn provoked the US into being nasty towards its so called allies, which in turn push them more into non bloc camp. In other words, China has dragged the US down to the mud. Others want to stay out of the fight between the two elephants, to become non bloc. The only exceptions are the brits, australians and japs. They are totally on the US train now.

But China isn't winning yet, far from it. China still has trouble attracting alliances due to the superfast rise of China, which can be solved over time after adjustment, and the territorial disputes with many regional powers, which is hard to solved. Many experts also said that China traditionally didn't like to be in alliance, because it considered alliances as more of a liability than an asset, and its usefulness is doubtfull. I think this is a wrong perception as we can see with the tech war that is going on between China and the US today.