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Singapore’s value to US lies in her strategic location: America’s envoy nominee

WASHINGTON — Singapore’s value to America goes beyond economic and security cooperation, said United States’ nominee for ambassador to Singapore Kathleen Troia McFarland on Thursday (July 20) night, adding that the Republic’s strategic location is key to her country’s interests in Asia.

Kathleen Troia McFarland, nominee to be the next US Ambassador to Singapore, said the strength of the two countries' relationship is key to success in addressing many of the region's challenges. Photo: AP

Kathleen Troia McFarland, nominee to be the next US Ambassador to Singapore, said the strength of the two countries' relationship is key to success in addressing many of the region's challenges. Photo: AP

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WASHINGTON — Singapore’s value to America goes beyond economic and security cooperation, said United States’ nominee for ambassador to Singapore Kathleen Troia McFarland on Thursday (July 20) night, adding that the Republic’s strategic location is key to her country’s interests in Asia.

“Singapore’s value to the United States is more than just our bilateral relationship, strong as it may be,” Ms McFarland said in a statement for her confirmation hearing in the Senate on Thursday.

“Despite its small size … Singapore sits astride one of the most important geostrategically important locations in the world. It is the economic gateway between East and West as one of the world’s most important trade routes – on the Malacca straits. It is the world’s largest transshipment port.

“Singapore is also the security gateway between East and West as the entrance to the South China Sea,” she added.

Ms McFarland noted that the “the world’s diplomatic chessboard is being rearranged”, with economic growth increasingly coming from Asia, North Korea on the verge of becoming a nuclear weapons state and China building a blue water navy and “flexing its military muscles up and down the Asia Pacific.”

“It seeks to disrupt our relationships with many Asian nations as it lures them into China’s orbit,” she said, adding that Asia Pacific also faces a serious security issue with terrorism, especially with terrorists fleeing the crumbling Islamic State and moving to the region.

“With each of these security issues, the strength of the US-Singapore relationship will be instrumental to our success,” she added.

On economic relations, she noted that the US has a healthy trade surplus of nearly US$20 billion in goods and services with Singapore.

“215,000 American jobs are supported by our trade with Singapore. US businesses invest over US$180 billion in Singapore, twice as much as we invest in China and five times our investment in India,” she said, adding that 4,200 US business are headquartered in Singapore, and more than 30,000 Americans live in the city-state.

Both sides also enjoy a close security relationship, said Ms McFarland, who is seeking to replace Mr Kirk Wagar, who left Singapore in January upon Mr Trump’s inauguration.

Ms McFarland noted how when America closed its bases in the Philippines in the 1990s, Singapore stepped up to make its facilities available to the US.

Beyond economic and security ties, she added that the two countries have a lot in common.

“We’re both melting pot societies where people of different races, cultures and religions have come together to create a meritocracy, and democracy,” she said.

“Our free market economies are innovative, dynamic and entrepreneurial. We’re at the cutting edge of technology and the digital age,” she added.

“Our nations have been beacons of stability and prosperity – and an important example of what can be accomplished through hard work, the rule of law and economic freedom.”

When asked during her oral testimony how she would tilt Singapore’s balancing between China and America in the South China Sea towards Washington’s favour, she said that with Singapore becoming the chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in 2018 and wanting to enhance the organisation’s capabilities in the cyber sphere, there exist  “opportunities to increase the security relationship”.

This is because the Republic looks to the “United States, not others” for cooperation in the cyber arena, she said.

Ms McFarland previously served as Mr Trump’s deputy national security adviser. A former national security analyst for the Fox News channel, the 65-year-old was one of Mr Trump’s original hires after he was elected president last year.

Ms McFarland previously served in the national security councils of the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, and worked at the Department of Defence. AGENCIES

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