Foreign relations of Singapore

Being a key member of ASEAN and a global hub, Singapore maintains favorable relations with many countries on the world stage, and embodies building friendships and mutual benefits in its foreign policy.

The nation works closely with neighboring and regional countries, specifically in Asia-Pacific, and consistently supports international initiatives to maintain peace, security and order.

[5][6] Singapore enjoys good relations with the United Kingdom which shares ties in the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) along with Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

[14] Even so, there are shades of liberalism and constructivist thought in its foreign policy as evinced by the belief that economic interdependence will lessen the chances of conflict and that Singapore cannot be fatalistic as a small country.

"[14] In 1966, S. Rajaratnam saw Singapore's challenge as ensuring its sustained survival, peace, and prosperity in a region suffering from mutual jealousies, internal violence, economic disintegration and great power conflicts.

[14] In accordance with this worldview, Singapore's foreign policy is aimed at maintaining friendly relations with all countries, especially Malaysia, Indonesia, and ASEAN, and ensuring that its actions do not exacerbate its neighbours' insecurities.

[19] Singapore has long recognised the importance of APEC as an essential platform for promoting economic linkages and its benefits towards strengthening regional peace and security between member economies.

Singapore has endorsed APEC's efforts at regional economic integration as well as its non-trade agendas of human resource development, emergency preparedness and health.

The building is also used for large-scale projects and operations with a global impact, law enforcement trainings and cross-sector conferences with a nexus in the ASEAN region.

In July 2005, during his official visit to the United States, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President George W. Bush signed a Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) to strengthen defence and security cooperation.

In April 2013, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong attended the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia and visited Guangdong.

Singapore was one of the first to respond to India's "Look East" Policy of expanding its economic, cultural and strategic ties in Southeast Asia to strengthen its standing as a regional power.

Following its independence in 1965, Singapore was concerned with PRC-backed threats as well as domination from Malaysia and Indonesia and sought a close strategic relationship with India, which it saw as a counterbalance to PRC influence and a partner in achieving regional security.

[citation needed] Relations with Indonesia are generally good, though current outstanding issues include the bans on the export of sand, and granite;[69] both of which Singapore's construction industry is reliant on.

Israel's representation in Singapore was first formalized in 1968, and relations have since expanded, building strong economic ties and signing bilateral agreements, particularly in areas such as business, technology, healthcare, and defense.

The two nations have enjoyed an extensive relationship in many facets such as trade and defence, most noticeably being Singapore's establishment of military bases in Taiwan for its troops to conduct overseas training.

Like Thailand where Singapore today adopted modern military training bases with, Taiwan was also under Japanese Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere influence leading up to post-World War II.

These exercises, engaging as many as 10,000 troops at one time, provided officers a chance to simulate wartime conditions more closely and gain experience in the command and control of operations involving several battalions.

[84] On 12 September 2012, former Taiwanese Vice-President Lien Chan announced that talks between Taiwan and Singapore on a proposed economic partnership agreement are expected to be finalised by the end of the year.

Since 1975, the Singapore Army has used bases in Taiwan for military training that included combined arms exercises involving infantry, artillery, and armoured units.

Just before the current prime minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong took office from the then incumbent Goh Chok Tong, he made a visit to Taiwan to familiarise himself with the latest developments there.

[89] Controversy struck swiftly, with PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue accusing Lee of "hurting the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese".

As a result, in his maiden National Day Rally speech, Lee criticised the Taiwanese leadership and populace of overestimating the support they would receive if they were to declare Taiwan independence.

[90] Later that year in September, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo cautioned the United Nations General Assembly about the dangers of letting the cross-strait relationship deteriorate.

[94] The PRC has continuously advocated the possibility of moving some or all of these military facilities to Hainan, although this may not be taken up due to sensitivities in diplomatic relations between Singapore and her largely Islamic neighbours.

During a visit to Rome in 2007, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew stated that opening an embassy could be a challenge because trade and people flow between Italy and Singapore has yet to reach a significant level.

[109] The Romanian market, with a relatively cheap and skilled labor force and advantageous tax laws, has been attractive to several Singapore companies who have established joint ventures in Romania.

[120] In August 2005, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore agreed to conduct joint anti-piracy patrols in the Malacca Strait to increase security in one of the world's busiest sea lanes[121][122][123][124] Thailand later also joined in this effort.

[125] In addition to embassies or High Commissions, Singapore maintains consulates or honorary consulates in Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Korea,[80] Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland (Permanent Mission in Geneva), Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Vietnam.