I find the Editorial "All Friends Welcome " April 12, 1996, ST, too sanguine in view of the way things really are. There is a somewhat supercilious flavor to the editorial - not terribly surprising for those who have consecrated Singapore as the latest panacea in the US-China imbroglio.
The reality gap is that the strategic interests of the US and China are at diametric ends and serve fundamentally different purposes. Friendship has to be demonstrated by deeds.
One paradigm example is the controversy over intellectual property issues. Whenever the US complained about Singapore's slack protection of US intellectual property rights, our Government obliged by overhauling our intellectual property laws repeatedly. The US has always threatened all-out trade war with China over intellectual property issues & all the US has got to show were some paper commitment and a sprinkling of media-friendly stories of successful seizures of Whitney Houston CDs. China has not demonstrated their friendship with the US like how Singapore has and no matter how much sweet talk an intermediary can do, it is up to China to who can show its friendship with the US.
Therein lies the nub about why Singapore can never be used by the US as an example of how to interface with other Asian countries. Despite all the periodic collective seething and railing against the US, Singapore cannot afford not to totally accommodate the US on matters that count; whereas China has a little better leverage than Singapore.
To tout Singapore as a bridge between US & China is to engage in an exercise of self-delusion, a more realistic assessment would be akin to a welcome doormat at an entrance. To suggest that Singapore can act as bridge is patently facetious because there is a thriving colony of paid China lobbyists in Washington, D.C. and the US West Coast, the Better Hong Kong Foundation and thousands of pro-China Chinese in the US who perform that role. This is another example of Singapore soliciting an exaggerated role for itself in the international body politic. We must know our position in the food chain of international relations. The aspiring door could end up being a doormat.
A viable role for Singapore in this US-China quandary; is to use whatever Singapore influence with China to build up the foundations of a transparent business environment, respect for rule of law and a corruption free economic system. This will benefit Singapore businessmen investing in China but foreigners as well. Our Government should spend more resources to inform, serve and protect less-savvy Singaporean individual property investors in China rather than engage in punditry about US-China relations.
Singapore should not join in bugling brigade, like some unpaid public relations apologist, for China's military adventures in East Asia, its continued brutal oppression of its citizens, China's strong arm tactics in Hong Kong & Taiwan and arbitrary treatment of foreign companies in China