Singapore won’t let deep ties with China be derailed by a single issue: Vivian

SINGAPORE — Singapore will not allow its deep and wide-ranging relationship with China to be hijacked by a single issue, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Tuesday (Nov 29).

He was responding to a question on the impact on bilateral ties from Hong Kong Customs’ seizure of nine armoured vehicles belonging to the Singapore Armed Forces and en route back from military training in Taiwan — for which Beijing has made representations to the Republic.

Dr Balakrishnan, who was speaking at a forum organised by The Straits Times, did not mention the South China Sea or Singapore’s military training in Taiwan directly in his comments. But he told the audience that there will be differences in perspective between China and Singapore from time to time “because we are such close and long-term friends”.

“To put things in perspective, we have a long-standing, multi-faceted, mutually beneficial relationship, and because it’s long-standing, if you are truly close, there will be from time to time things we will disagree (on),” he said. “Don’t let single incidents or even long-standing differences in perspective get in the way of a very important, fundamental account, which is what the relationship between China and Singapore is.”

Dr Balakrishnan also urged against overreaction to the incident, when asked what the way out was. 

“All I would say is we expect commercial providers to strictly comply with the law. We expect the law to take its course,” he added.

Following Hong Kong’s detention of the SAF’s nine Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles last week, Beijing made representations to Singapore and called on the Republic to adhere to the One-China policy, reiterating that the Chinese government opposes countries that have diplomatic ties with it to have “any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, including military exchanges and cooperation”.

Dr Balakrishnan said on Tuesday that Singapore has remained consistent and transparent, even though different perspectives will emerge over specific issues from time to time.

“When that happens, our belief is that it’s better to be upfront, and be honest about it and do it in a non-provocative way, and honestly at the most senior levels and at the leadership levels, there’s a deep appreciation that this is a long and wide-ranging relationship, and we will not allow any single issue to hijack it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen also took questions on the incident at a separate event on Tuesday.

He said: “I think it’s on record that Singapore fully respects and supports the One-China policy. In fact, we’ll continue to act in a manner that’s consistent with the One-China policy.”

Dr Ng also pointed out that Singapore has played “a positive role in improving cross-strait relations”.

He cited two meetings Singapore hosted between the two sides: The 1993 meeting between China’s Wang Daohan and Taiwan’s Koo Chen-fu, as well as the historic meeting between Mr Xi Jinping and Mr Ma Ying-jeou last year — the first between leaders of the two sides since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

Dr Ng added: “Singapore fully supports and adheres to the One-China policy and we’ve played a supportive role in cross-strait relations and will continue to do so.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NEO CHAI CHIN