(File photo: VCG)

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the United States must accommodate a more influential and powerful China, and it is impossible to prevent China from rising.

Speaking at the country's National Day Rally on Sunday, Lee said that since the reform and opening-up, China has developed rapidly and become the second largest economy in the world. The rapid development of China has brought tremendous benefits to China and the world, resulting in a new world pattern.

As the world's number one power, the United States must accommodate a more influential and increasingly powerful China, and the United States must accept that it is impossible and unwise to block China's rise, said Lee, adding the United States must seek constructive relations with China and economic interdependence. 

He also thinks that competition between China and the United States is inevitable, but at the same time, both sides must strengthen mutual trust and deal with inevitable friction through appropriate mechanisms.

The National Day Rally is regarded as the most important political speech of the year in Singapore.