"Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is urging the United States to take an uncompromising stance towards the People's Republic of China in negotiations concerning the return of the American spy plane that made an emergency landing on China's southern Hainan Island," according to a report of the interview provided to Reuters on Apr 10 by the magazine.

Beijing-based Wirtschaftswoche correspondent Frank Sieren told Reuters the comments were obtained in a written answer to follow-up questions sent after an interview with Lee on March 31, the day before the spy plane incident.

Earlier the Singapore government in a media release said an account of the magazine's interview carried by Reuters was incorrect. "The interview was on March 31 before the US aircraft incident happened and the matter could not have been asked," the government statement said.

When told of the Singapore government's statement Sieren said: "We stand by our story."

In the interview to be published later this week Lee is quoted saying: "Just as NATO opposed the Soviet Union and checked its hunger for power, China's power has to be contained."

The US and China are currently in a standoff over the fate of 24 detained crew from the spy plane which collided with a Chinese jet fighter.

Lee, who at 77 is still an influential politician in the region, said he feared the region's weakened countries could be run over by a China that is growing economically stronger.

"We need a long-term presence of the Americans in the region," Lee said.

"In the power struggle surrounding the spy plane, the new relationship is being tested," he said.