Chinese oversea bases

Preux said:

LOL, we'd be thanking our ancestors if Singapore doesn't stab us in the back the first chance it gets. Going against the US? No way in hell, not until the US is actually no longer in the picture, at which point China won't really need a base there anyway.

Now, for their own interests, Singapore doesn't want outright conflict between the US and China, but when the chips are down there's no doubt in my mind which side they'd be on. Make no mistake, Singapore is the single nation most hostile to Chinese interests in the ASEAN, and I am counting Vietnam. For its own self interest, at least, there's a limit as to how far Vietnam will go in dancing to the US' tune... Singapore asks 'how high' when Uncle Sam asks them to jump.

Click to expand...

ZeEa5KPul said:

You've given some good reasons why Singapore should at least remain neutral in a US-China war, but acting on those reasons assumes that Singapore has the sovereignty to do so. I do not believe that to be the case. Singapore is "independent" in the sense that it can run its own post office, but its foreign policy is set in Washington. Its military gear is entirely supplied by the US; if the US abandons it, Malaysia can knock it over in an afternoon.

What's worse is that Singapore's elite seem perfectly content with this. I point to what the Singaporean defense minister responded with to a PLA officer's warning that China could choose not to attend the Shangri-La summit.

There isn't any reason to think this factors into Singaporean decision making. It's a very long term problem, and a war in which China is damaged would increase the flow of Chinese immigrants to Singapore.

Click to expand...

Yodello said:

Quite interesting, eye-opening and shcoking to read some of the previous posts, and learn that Singapore, which is largely comprised of Ethnic Chinese, would rather lick Amercian 'ass' than to support their own Chinese Brethren.
These cowards should not be allowed to reap the benefits of Mainland Chinese prosperity, while harboring such strong support for China's mortal enemy (USA). China has never mentioned the US as and enemy in any official writings or announcements, while the US has officially mentioned China as a mortal enemy, whose very existence is unwanted by the US.

Don't the Ethnic Chinese Singopreans even have pride to stand for their own kind? What a useles bunch of people. Such people who do not even have pride or respect their own ancestry are a rootless people, and a society or civilizaton will never flourish for the long-term by forgetting its own roots.
Having some 'western' infrastructure, some 'showcase' Western Military hardware and copying western financial system, and running itself as a financial hub without having a strong sense of Culture will not make Singapore flourish in the long-term. It might even become something like Hawaii, where the indegenous people have all but lost their heritage, they are like a Ghosts, surviving on handouts from a foreign Culture.

Click to expand...

Yodello said:

Quite interesting, eye-opening and shcoking to read some of the previous posts, and learn that Singapore, which is largely comprised of Ethnic Chinese, would rather lick Amercian 'ass' than to support their own Chinese Brethren.
These cowards should not be allowed to reap the benefits of Mainland Chinese prosperity, while harboring such strong support for China's mortal enemy (USA). China has never mentioned the US as and enemy in any official writings or announcements, while the US has officially mentioned China as a mortal enemy, whose very existence is unwanted by the US.

Don't the Ethnic Chinese Singopreans even have pride to stand for their own kind? What a useles bunch of people. Such people who do not even have pride or respect their own ancestry are a rootless people, and a society or civilizaton will never flourish for the long-term by forgetting its own roots.
Having some 'western' infrastructure, some 'showcase' Western Military hardware and copying western financial system, and running itself as a financial hub without having a strong sense of Culture will not make Singapore flourish in the long-term. It might even become something like Hawaii, where the indegenous people have all but lost their heritage, they are like a Ghosts, surviving on handouts from a foreign Culture.

Click to expand...

Singaporeans bucked the trend by being the only group to view China in a better light than the United States, and to prefer stronger economic ties with China over the US, in the Pew Research Centre's Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey.

Click to expand...

Preux said:

LOL, we'd be thanking our ancestors if Singapore doesn't stab us in the back the first chance it gets. Going against the US? No way in hell, not until the US is actually no longer in the picture, at which point China won't really need a base there anyway.

Now, for their own interests, Singapore doesn't want outright conflict between the US and China, but when the chips are down there's no doubt in my mind which side they'd be on. Make no mistake, Singapore is the single nation most hostile to Chinese interests in the ASEAN, and I am counting Vietnam. For its own self interest, at least, there's a limit as to how far Vietnam will go in dancing to the US' tune... Singapore asks 'how high' when Uncle Sam asks them to jump.

Click to expand...

tphuang said:

I'm really curious about all the people so sure about what Singapore's foreign policy is. How many have been to Singapore and know what makes the country tick or are you just informed based on western articles?

Click to expand...

AndrewS said:

I've lived in Singapore before and could do (socio-economic-cultural-technological-political-military) comparisons with other countries on a number of topics if I was so inclined.

Click to expand...