SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Singapore hopes the United States and China can quickly resolve their differences, Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran said here on Thursday.

"I think competition does not necessarily mean conflict ... We'd like to see a resolution (between the United States and China)," said Iswaran, also Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, at a discussion hosted by Asia Society, a New York-based non-profit organization focusing on forging closer ties between Asia and the world.

The minister made the remarks when visiting Silicon Valley on a mission to promote Singapore as a tech hub.

Singapore holds great interest in the U.S.-China trade disputes as the United States is Singapore's largest trading partner and Singapore has "significant investment presence" in China, Iswaran said. "Both countries are very important partners."

The protracted conflict has cast a shadow on Singapore, which has reported a worsened economy for the second quarter this year, "partly due to the escalation in the U.S.-China trade conflict in recent months," according to a report released by the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry on Aug. 13.

The ministry has downgraded the country's GDP growth forecast to 0-1 percent, compared to the previously predicted rate of 1.5-2.5 percent.

"Concurrently, the global electronics cycle has entered a sharper-than expected downswing, with the ongoing downturn exacerbated by the uncertainty caused by the U.S.-China trade conflict," said the report.

Since July 2018, Washington have unilaterally provoked trade frictions with Beijing. The U.S. trade bullying runs against the spirit of free trade and international norms and risks hurting the global economy and damaging the international trade regime.