Updated May 20, 2019May 15, 2015
U.S.-Singapore Relations
Overview
Though geographically only about three times the size of
Washington, DC,
and with a population of about 5.9
5.3 million, the city-state of
Singapore exercisesexerts economic and
diplomatic influence on
a par with much larger countries. Its
stable government,
strong economic performance, educated
citizenry, and
strategic position along key shipping lanes
afford it
leverage and a a large role in regional and global affairs. As the
United States implements the Obama Administration’s
strategic “rebalance” to Asia, Singapore is a partner in both
trade and security cooperation.. At the same time,
Singapore’s leaders aim to strike a balance among the
region’s powers and also maintain close relations with
China.
The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) went into
effect in January 2004—the United States’ first bilateral
FTA with an Asian country—and trade has burgeoned. In
2013, Singapore was the 17th largest U.S. trading partner,
with $50 billion in total two-way goods trade, and a
substantial destination for U.S. foreign direct investment. It
is one of 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP), the Obama Administration’s signature
economic initiative in Asia. Mutual security interests also
strengthen ties between Singapore and the United States. A
formal strategic partnership agreement allows the United
States to access Singapore military facilities and provides
the basis for U.S.-Singapore cooperation in
counterterrorism, counter-proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, joint military exercises, policy dialogues, and
shared defense technology.
Singapore Politics
The People’s Action Party (PAP) has won every general
election since the end of the colonial era in 1959, aided by
its success in delivering consistent economic growth, as
well as Singapore’s fragmented opposition and electoral
procedures that strongly favor the ruling party. In recent
years, some observers have pointed to changes in the
political and social environment that may portend more
political pluralism, including generational changes and an
increasingly international outlook among Singaporeans. In
May 2011, opposition parties claimed their most successful
results in history, taking six of the unicameral Parliament’s
87 elected seats, and garnering about 40% of the popular
vote. Though this still left the PAP with an overwhelming
majority in Parliament, the ruling party described the
election as a watershed moment for Singapore and vowed
to reform the party to respond to the public’s concerns,
which appeared to focus mainly on the growing cost of
living and wealth disparities.
Perceptions of generational changes in Singapore were
highlighted further by the March 22, 2015, death of former
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew at age 91. Lee, Singapore’s
first prime minister, was widely heralded as the architect of
Singapore’s success as a nation and its rapid economic
development, although much of the country’s authoritarian
politics derived from Lee’s efforts to constrain political
opposition. Lee served as prime minister from Singapore’s
independence in 1959 until 1991, and Lee‘s eldest son is
current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who has been in
office since 2004.
Singapore’s leaders have acknowledged a “contract” with
the Singaporean people, under which individual rights are
curtailed in the interest of maintaining a stable, prosperous
society. Supporters praise Singapore’s pragmatism, noting
its sustained economic growth and high standards of living.
Others criticize the approach as stunting creativity and
entrepreneurship, and contributing to rising disparities of
income in Singapore’s expanding population.
Although it has been elected by a comfortable majority in
every election since Singapore’s founding, the PAP “has
used the government’s extensive powers to place
formidable obstacles in the path of political opponents.”
according to the U.S. State Department’s 2013 Country
Report on Human Rights Practices. According to Amnesty
International, defamation suits by PAP leaders to
discourage opposition are widespread. The political careers
of several opposition politicians are marked by
characteristic obstacles erected by the ruling party,
including being forced to declare bankruptcy for failing to
pay libel damages to prominent PAP members.
U.S.-Singapore Defense Cooperation
The 2005 “Strategic Framework Agreement” formalizes the
bilateral security and defense relationship between the
United States and Singapore. The agreement, the first of its
kind that the United States signed with a non-ally since the
Cold War, builds on the U.S. strategy of “places-not-bases”
in the region, a concept that allows the U.S. military access
to facilities on a rotational basis without bringing up
sensitive sovereignty issues. The agreement allows the
United States to operate resupply vessels from Singapore
and to use a naval base, a ship repair facility, and an airfield
on the island-state. The U.S. Navy also maintains a
logistical command unit—Commander, Logistics Group
Western Pacific—in Singapore that serves to coordinate
warship deployment and logistics in the region. Singapore’s
Changi Naval base is one of the few facilities in the world
that can accommodate a U.S. aircraft carrier.
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U.S.-Singapore Relations
Starting in 2013, the U.S. Navy deployed a littoral combat
ship (LCS) to Singapore for a 10-month tour, and then
deployed a second beginning in 2014. By 2018, the Navy
plans to rotationally deploy four LCS ships from the
Seventh Fleet in Singapore. The stationing of the LCSs is
emblematic of the role that Singapore can play in the U.S.
“strategic rebalancing” to the region by providing a U.S.
Navy presence in Southeast and Northeast Asia. The USS
Freedom, the first LCS stationed in Singapore, performed
patrols in the South China Sea, participated in exercises
with other countries, and delivered relief supplies to the
Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. The second
LCS, the USS Fort Worth, participated in search and rescue
operations for a commercial aircraft operated by Air Asia
that crashed in Indonesian waters in early 2015.
Law Enforcement Cooperation
The United States and Singapore engage in ongoing law
enforcement cooperation. Singapore is a transit point for a
wide range of individuals, including suspected terrorists
from neighboring countries, and its active port is a transshipment point. In the past, some U.S. officials have
expressed concerns about the strength of cooperation. The
State Department’s 2013 country report on terrorism,
however, said that cooperation has “benefited from
improved working level dialogue on many of the issues that
had previously impeded the development of more strategic
and productive agency-to-agency relationships.” Among
U.S. priorities are improvements in Singapore’s port
security, where the Department of Homeland Security
hopes to see Singapore make greater use of advance
manifests to screen containers through its busy port, and
improvements to the bilateral extradition treaty.
Singapore Economy and U.S. Trade
Relations
Singapore’s GDP per capita is $55,182 (2013 estimate), one
of the highest in the world. The city-state’s role as a
regional trading hub means its economy depends heavily on
trade. Annual trade volumes processed through the
Singapore port are around three times Singapore’s domestic
GDP. It relies on exports of consumer electronics,
information technology products, pharmaceuticals, and
financial services. China, Malaysia, and the United States
are Singapore’s largest trading partners. Cumulative U.S.
foreign direct investment (FDI) in Singapore exceeds $138
billion, making it the largest Southeast Asian destination for
U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI).
16-nation group of Asian nations that is negotiating a free
trade agreement at the same time some of its members are
working on the TPP. (RCEP’s members include ASEAN’s
10 nations, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New
Zealand and South Korea. The nations that are involved in
both TPP and RCEP are Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia,
New Zealand, and Vietnam.) Singapore does not face some
of the obstacles that other countries do in trade negotiations
because, in addition to having a mature, globalized
economy, it has virtually no agricultural sector and its
manufacturing is limited to specialized sectors such as highend electronic products and pharmaceuticals.
Singapore’s Regional Role
Singapore was a founding member of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the 10-member
regional forum that helps Southeast Asia’s mostly small
countries to influence regional diplomacy, particularly visà-vis China. (ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Burma
(Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.) Singapore
has praised the Administration’s “rebalancing” effort
toward Asia, yet has been careful to warn that anti-China
rhetoric or efforts to “contain” China’s rise will be
counterproductive. Singapore often portrays itself as a
useful balancer and intermediary between major powers in
the region. In ongoing territorial and sovereignty disputes in
the South China Sea, Singapore, a non-claimant, has
characterized its stance on the issue as neutral, yet
concerned because of the threat to maritime stability.
Singapore’s ties with Beijing are multifaceted and extend to
cultural, political, and educational exchanges as well.
Singapore adheres to a one-China policy, but has an
extensive relationship with Taiwan and has managed to
avoid jeopardizing its strong relations with Beijing.
Emma Chanlett-Avery, echanlettavery@crs.loc.gov,
7-7748
Ben Dolven, bdolven@crs.loc.gov, 7-7626
The TPP participants represent a third of the world’s trade.
Singapore’s record of championing rigorous trade pacts
raises its prominence as a negotiating partner in pushing for
a comprehensive agreement. However, trade observers say
that, in the TPP, Singapore faces sensitive issues in
negotiations over financial services and the imposition of
free-market disciplines on state-owned enterprises.
Singapore has concluded at least 18 free trade agreements
(FTAs) and is pursuing several more, including the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a
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United States, Singapore has been a partner in both trade
and security initiatives and an advocate of a strong U.S. role
in the Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, Singapore’s
leaders have aimed to maintain close relations with China,
and to strike a balance among the region’s powers.
The United States and Singapore have extensive trade and
investment ties. The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
(FTA), which went into effect in January 2004, was the first
U.S. bilateral FTA with an Asian country. Since then, trade
between the two countries has almost doubled. In 2018,
U.S.-Singapore trade totaled about $60 billion in goods, and
Singapore was the 12th largest goods export market for the
United States. That same year, the U.S. trade surplus with
Singapore amounted to $5.9 billion. Singapore is a party to
the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Trade Partnership (CPTPP), an 11-nation agreement
that evolved from the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP), from which the United States withdrew in 2017.
Although it is not a U.S. treaty ally, Singapore is one of the
strongest U.S. security partners in the region. A formal
strategic partnership agreement allows the United States to
access Singaporean military facilities, and provides the
basis for U.S.-Singapore cooperation on issues relating to
counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, and joint military
exercises.
Singapore Politics
Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) has won every
general election since the end of the British colonial era in
1959. Even today, the PAP enjoys widespread support. It
has delivered consistent economic growth, and benefited
from the country’s fragmented opposition and proincumbent electoral procedures. In recent years, some
observers have pointed to changes in the political and social
environment that may portend more political pluralism,
including generational changes and an increasingly
international outlook among many Singaporeans. However,
in the most recent general election, held in 2015, the PAP
won 83 of 89 parliamentary seats. It tallied 69.9% of the
popular vote, up from an all-time low of 60.1% in 2011. In
Singapore, voting is compulsory, and 93.7% of eligible
voters cast ballots in the 2015 election.
Increasingly, PAP officials are preparing for a change in the
party’s leadership. In 2015, the country’s long-time leader
Lee Kuan Yew died. He was Singapore’s first prime
minister, serving from 1959 until 1990. He was widely
heralded as the architect of Singapore’s success and its
rapid economic development, although much of the
country’s authoritarian politics derived from Lee’s efforts
to constrain the political opposition. Lee’s eldest son, Lee
Hsien Loong, is the country’s current prime minister. He
has been in office since 2004, but he has indicated that he
wants to step down in the next few years. In November
2018, the PAP announced a new party leadership slate, and
a group of younger party leaders, known as the 4G (fourth
generation) group, chose Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat
as its head, indicating that he is likely to succeed Lee as
Prime Minister. The government must hold elections by
January 2021, but many expect polls could be held as early
as this year.
Singapore’s leaders have acknowledged a “contract” with
the Singaporean people, under which some individual rights
are curtailed in the interest of maintaining a stable,
prosperous society. (In the 1960s, intercommunal violence,
primarily between ethnic Chinese and Malays, racked the
country.) However, PAP leaders speak of the need to
reform the party to respond to the public’s concerns, which
appear to focus on rising living costs, wealth disparities,
and immigration. Some observers praise Singapore’s
pragmatism, noting its sustained economic growth and high
standards of living. Yet, others criticize the government’s
paternalistic approach, saying that it stunts creativity and
entrepreneurship and contributes to rising income
inequality.
The United States has criticized some aspects of
Singapore’s political system. The U.S. State Department’s
2018 Human Rights Report mentioned “preventive
detention by government authorities under various laws that
dispense with regular judicial due process; monitoring
private electronic or telephone communications without a
warrant; significant restrictions on the press and online,
including the use of defamation laws to discourage
criticism; [and] laws and regulations significantly limiting
the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of association.”
In the past, the party has used defamation suits and libel
damages to bankrupt opposition politicians.
U.S.-Singapore Defense Cooperation
The “Strategic Framework Agreement” formalizes the
bilateral security relationship between the United States and
Singapore. The agreement, which was signed in 2005 and is
the first of its kind with a non-U.S. ally since the Cold War,
builds on the U.S. strategy of “places-not-bases”—a
concept that aims to provide the U.S. military with access to
foreign facilities on a largely rotational basis, thereby
avoiding sensitive sovereignty issues. In 2015, the United
States and Singapore agreed to an “enhanced” cooperation
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U.S.-Singapore Relations
agreement, and the United States began deploying
surveillance aircraft to Singapore around the same time.
Singapore is a substantial market for U.S. military goods,
and it has indicated interest in procuring four F-35 jets.
The U.S. Navy maintains a logistical command unit—
Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific—in
Singapore that coordinates warship deployments and
logistics in the region. Singapore’s Changi Naval Base is
one of the few facilities in the world that can accommodate
a U.S. aircraft carrier, and Singapore-stationed littoral
combat ships (LCSs) have performed patrols in the South
China Sea, participated in exercises with other countries,
and delivered relief supplies to the Philippines after
Typhoon Haiyan.
In November 2014, Singapore became the first Southeast
Asia country to join the U.S.-led Global Coalition to
Counter the Islamic State (IS). Singaporean troops have
served in non-combat roles at U.S. Central Command and
at the Combined Joint Task Force’s headquarters. The
country also has contributed an air-to-air refueling tanker,
an imagery analysis unit, and a medical team to the anti-IS
effort. Singapore also made small contributions to allied
efforts in both Iraq conflicts and Afghanistan, and has
contributed to numerous U.N. peacekeeping operations,
including in Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and Nepal.
Law Enforcement Cooperation
The United States and Singapore engage in ongoing law
enforcement cooperation. According to some, such
cooperation is crucial, given that Singapore is the busiest
transshipment hub in the world, and is a transit point for
millions of air passengers, including suspected terrorists
from neighboring countries. In the past, some U.S. officials
have expressed concerns about Singapore’s willingness to
cooperate, but the State Department’s most recent Country
Report on Terrorism states that “Singapore [has been] a
committed, active, and effective counterterrorism partner.”
Singapore is part of the U.S.-led Container Security
Initiative (CSI), and in 2014, the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection agency signed three agreements with the
country, providing a legal framework for the two countries’
customs authorities to work together to counter trafficking,
proliferation, and terrorist-related activities.
Singapore Economy and U.S. Trade
Relations
Singapore’s GDP per capita (PPP) is one of the world’s
highest at $94,100. The country’s role as a regional entrepot
means that its economy depends heavily on trade.
Singapore’s annual trade volumes are more than three times
the country’s annual GDP, and in 2018, its port handled
about 630 million tons of cargo. Singapore exports
consumer electronics, information technology products, and
pharmaceuticals. It also is one of the top three oil-refining
centers in the world, even though it has no natural resources
of its own. China is Singapore’s largest trading partner, but
the United States is its biggest foreign investor. In 2017, the
stock of U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Singapore
totaled $274 billion, accounting for around 80% of total
U.S. investment in Southeast Asia.
Previously, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was the
primary trade initiative between the United States and
Singapore. The United States withdrew from the agreement
in January 2017, but Singapore, along with 10 other
countries, moved ahead with the revised CPTPP. In March
2017, Prime Minister Lee said that the U.S. withdrawal “put
a dent in the degree to which people can be confident in
America’s policies.”
As a trade-dependent economy, Singapore has pursued a
wide range of trade agreements. It has concluded 22
bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs),
including the U.S.-Singapore FTA and the CPTPP, and is
pursuing several more, including the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which
involves 16 Asian nations. Singapore faces relatively few
obstacles when conducting trade negotiations. It has a
mature, globalized economy, virtually no agricultural
sector, and its manufacturing industry is focused on
specialized products such as high-end electronics and
pharmaceuticals. The country’s leaders, however, are
concerned about the impact that Sino-U.S.-trade disputes
may have on the Singapore economy.
Singapore’s Regional Role
Singapore was a founding member of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the 10-member
regional forum that helps Southeast Asia’s mostly small
countries influence regional diplomacy, particularly vis-àvis China. (ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Burma,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.)
Singapore has encouraged greater U.S. engagement in Asia,
but it has warned that efforts to “contain” China’s rise
would be counterproductive. In a May 2019 speech in
Washington DC, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian
Balakrishnan said “viewing China purely as an adversary to
be contained will not work in the long term, given the entire
spectrum of issues that will require cooperation between the
U.S. and China.” Of late, Singapore has worked to smooth
its ties with China—perhaps at least partly as a hedge
against possible U.S. disengagement from the region. That
being said, in 2016, Singapore supported an international
tribunal’s ruling against China’s claims in the South China
Sea (SCS). (Singapore is a non-claimant in the SCS dispute,
and has characterized its stance as neutral.) Singapore has a
strong relationship with Taiwan, but it nonetheless adheres
to a one-China policy.
Singapore also portrays itself as a useful intermediary,
providing a bridge to developing countries in fora like
international climate negotiations. In June 2018, Singapore
hosted the first meeting between President Trump and
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un.
Ben Dolven,
Emma Chanlett-Avery,
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U.S.-Singapore Relations
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