The US-China bilateral relationship is the most critical in the world, and it's implications are felt across the globe as much as they are within the two countries, said Simon S.C. Tay, a renowned Singaporean political analyst.

In his new book Asia alone: The Dangerous Post-Crisis Divide from America, Tay, a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society's New York headquarters in 2009, says since the 2008 global financial crisis the shift of power between the US and China has accelerated. Tay is also chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a non-governmental think tank that represents Singapore in the influential ASEAN-ISIS network of regional think tanks.

According to Tay, the crisis has brought about some rivalry, perceived or real, between China and the US.