Singapore troop carriers should be 'melted down': The Global Times

BEIJING — Armoured troop carriers belonging to Singapore and currently impounded in Hong Kong should be “melted down”, China’s influential state-run tabloid Global Times said on Tuesday (Nov 29), in its second swipe at the island nation in two days.

The nine Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles (ICVs) were impounded in Hong Kong last week en route back from Taiwan, sparking a rebuke to Singapore from China about maintaining military ties with self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, blasted Singapore’s “carelessness” with the armoured vehicles, which it said reflected a failure to take seriously China’s displeasure over its military relationship with Taiwan.

“Singapore’s image in China is now so rotten that ordinary Chinese people think the best thing to do with the ‘confiscated’ armoured vehicles that ‘walked right into our trap’ is to send them to the steel mills to be melted down,” it said.

The editorial, published in the paper’s Chinese-language edition, whose website attracts millions of visitors every day, adopts a similarly strident tone to a Monday commentary in its much less read English edition, accusing Singapore of “hypocrisy”.

Singapore should use this “interlude” in its relations with China to find “enlightenment” rather than to provoke more resentment, it added.

 “All incidents have causes — to grasp and understand them is always wise,” said the editorial.

Global Times has a history of writing hyperbolic editorials and is usually significantly more hawkish than the government’s official line.

In the Monday commentary, the writer had warned that Singapore’s “hypocrisy” over its military relationship with Taiwan could harm its relations with China. “It is no longer reasonable for Singapore to continue ... any kind of military exchange with Taiwan,” said the writer, who was identified only as Ai Jun, which is a homonym for “love the army”.

The incident “adds to the suspicion” that Singapore is working against the “One China” principle, said the commentary, which threatened punitive measures that would “profoundly impact Singapore’s economy”.

On Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman urged Singapore to adhere to the One-China principle.

“The Chinese government has always firmly opposed countries that have diplomatic ties with China to have any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation,” said Mr Geng Shuang at a regular media briefing.

“We asked that the Singapore Government strictly abide by the One-China principle,” he added. 

On the seizure of the troop carriers, Mr Geng said that China had “already made representations over this to the Singapore side”, without elaborating on how or when the complaint was made. 

China had also “demanded” that Singapore “strictly abide by the laws of Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR), and cooperate with the SAR government on all necessary follow-ups,” he said on Monday.

At a media briefing on Tuesday, Mr Geng said he had ‘‘nothing new to offer at the moment’’ on the issue.

Singapore and Taiwan have a longstanding military relationship that began in the 1970s and involves Taiwan being used as grounds for training by Singapore troops. AGENCIES