Singaporean politicians have always been biased against Taiwan’s democracy and political development. Their remarks aim to both reflect their domestic governance and meet China’s expectations.
However, these views, including the one expressed by former Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo (楊榮文) in Taiwan, are not only strategically shortsighted and ignorant of China’s ambitions, but also threaten their own security.
Claiming that Singaporeans are relatives of Taiwanese, Yeo’s misinterpretation of Taiwan’s hard-won existence is unfortunate. His main points are: Taiwan’s arm forces could not protect the nation if China attacked; for the US, Taiwan is just a component of the first island chain to contain the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and a big cash cow for US’ arms dealers; and the promises are unreliable because Washington cares more about its own interests.
These views are just the same as the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The goal of the CCP is to spread defeatism and US skepticism among Taiwanese, eroding their willingness and will to defend their democracy and freedom. This philosophy comes from one of Vladimir Lenin’s famous teachings: The easiest way to capture a fortress is from within.
In conclusion, Yeo said to avoid being ruined by a war with China, Taiwan had better reach an agreement with Beijing sooner rather than later.
His solution is a Chinese commonwealth. He believed that in this framework, Taiwan accepting unification under “one China” would bring peace. In the future, China and Taiwan would accommodate each other and find out what “one China” means.
Again, Yeo’s idea came from China’s policy of “settlement of Taiwan issue.” In a speech at the UN assembly last year, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said that “reunification is the only way for true peace.”
Moreover, Yeo should know well that Beijing’s “one China principle” means the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government of China, and Taiwan is a part of China. Under such a definition, Taiwan is only a regional government without sovereignty. Once it enters this “one China” trap, Taiwan’s democracy and freedom would no longer exist.
Yeo is not the only Singaporean politician accepting China’s perspectives. Kishore Mahbubani (馬凱碩), former Singaporean permanent representative to the UN, is a strong advocate of the “east rising and west falling” (東升西降) theory. Without raising concerns about China’s behavior destabilizing democratic countries, Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財),who is likely to be Singapore’s next prime minister, said he was concerned that the US and China might “sleepwalk into conflict.”
Located in a peaceful geopolitical environment, Singapore has never faced foreign aggressors since its founding. However, it does not mean that the democracy, freedom and prosperity this country has been enjoying could last indefinitely.
With its hegemonic ambition, authoritarian China is trying to dominate the world. Infringing on several ASEAN countries’ sovereignty in the South China Sea, threatening to invade Taiwan, supporting Russia attacking Ukraine are ominous preludes. If the rules-based world order collapsed, Singapore would not be unaffected.
It is worth noting that when Singapore and the PLA held a joint military exercise in Singapore earlier this month, a news report in the Chinese state-run China Central Television said that the PLA was “going out for a battle” in this overseas drill.
Maybe this report carried a message Singaporean politicians do not like to know.
Tu Ho-ting is a senior journalist and international affairs analyst based in Taiwan.
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