Quora Answer: How Does the United States Benefit from Being Close Allies with Singapore?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How does the United States benefit from being close allies with Singapore?  What can Singapore possibly offer to a superpower as massive and seemingly invincible as America?”

There are some notions that should be disabused here.  Firstly, Singapore is non-aligned, meaning that she is neither allies with the United States, nor China, nor any other nation.  Singapore is not obliged to support any nation in any international forum, nor does she have a military alliance obligating her to send troops on foreign adventures at the behest of any hegemon.  Every official deployment of military assets in conflict zones has been under the mandate of the United Nations Security Council, not as part of any coalition.

That being said, Singapore forges close diplomatic relations with major trade partners and regional powers.  She actively heads or is involved in many regional and international organisations, and is careful to function within a multilateral framework.  However, Singapore has not hesitated to take a stand against the US, the USSR, China, or any other power, when it was necessary.  This includes expelling foreign intelligence agents and diplomats, barring entry to certain citizens, and sending diplomatic notes condemning specific actions.  This has earned the nation respect for its principles.

Here are some quotes from Lee Kuan Yew, one of the architects of Singapore’s independence, and the man who shaped the character of this nation, as Prime Minister, and then Senior Minister, and then Minister Mentor.

On the 10^th August 1965, as quoted in the New York Times report, on the aftermath of Singapore’s separation from Malaysia, regarding Singapore’s struggle with the Communists, he said, “If we don’t try, Singapore will become Communist.  If we try and fail, it will become Communist.  The important thing is for us to try.”  Singapore has always been staunchly anti-Communist, having successfully seen off a Communist insurgency.  Singapore was the architect, along with Thailand, of creating an international blockade of Vietnam during her invasion of Cambodia.  This was in the context of the rivalry between the Soviet Communists and the Chinese Communists.

On the 26^th August 1965, in one of his first press conferences, after the independence of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew declared, “I am nobody’s stooge.  I am not here to play somebody else’s game.  I have a few million people’s lives to account for.  And Singapore will survive.”  This set the tone for Singapore’s non-alignment.  Singapore refused to be a pawn in the Cold War superpower game.

In an infamous incident, on the 02^nd September 1965, Lee Kuan Yew warned the Americans about trying to bribe him with US$3.3 million.  That would be worth several tens of millions now.  This bribe was offered for the release of a CIA agent, caught trying to bribe a minister.  In a fiery press conference, he said, “The Americans should know the character of the men they are dealing with in Singapore, and not get themselves further dragged into calumny.  They are not dealing with Ngo Dinh Diem or Syngman Rhee.  You do not buy and sell this Government.”

Singapore is in Singapore’s camp.  She is not allies with the Americans, although she is a trusted partner in regional and international engagements.  It is her neutrality that has allowed her to be the meeting venue for rivals and enemies, from the Americans and North Koreans, to the Chinese and Americans, to the Palestinians and Israelis; most of them discreet.

Singapore has a unique value proposition to the United States.  As a stable, wealthy economy with an honest government and credible banking system, her low corruption in a region awash with it, makes her a useful place to base intelligence assets, SPVs for business deals, even MNC headquarters.  Singapore is one of the largest financial centres in the world, a clearing house of trades from international players, all the way to the North Koreans.  She is the fourth largest oil refinery, with the only naval base capable of berthing and refitting a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Singapore sits at the narrowest confluence of the Malacca and Sunda Straits, controlling access between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  This is the busiest waterway in the world, where oil from the Middle East goes to East Asia, where electronics from East Asia goes to Europe, and so forth.  She has some of the most modern airports and air bases in the region, with the largest, most advanced air force in the region.  This makes her a perfect place to manage the evacuation of American citizens and personnel around the region in the event of conflict or humanitarian disaster.

In summary, Singapore has a strategic value to the United States, because of her position, and the facilities she offers; and she has a diplomatic value, since Singapore can speak to nations the Americans cannot, and get them to agree to things the Americans could not.  Singapore has accomplished with words what Americans with their bluster and guns could not.