Updated May 19July 30, 2020
U.S.-Singapore Relations
Overview
Though geographically only about three times the size of
Washington, DC, and with a population of about 5.9
million, the city-state of Singapore exerts economic and
diplomatic influence on par with much larger countries. Its
stable government, strong economic performance, educated
citizenry, and strategic position along key shipping lanes
afford it a large role in regional and global affairs. For the
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’smaintain positive ties with all regional 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 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 facilitates
cooperation on issues relating to counterterrorism, counterproliferation, and joint military exercises.
Singapore and COVID-19 Pandemic
Singapore was one of the first nations outside China to
report COVID-19 cases, with its first infection reported on
January 23. Public health experts praised Singapore’s rapid
early actions, including extensive monitoring of cases and
their contacts, temperature checks at building entrances,
and clear public messaging. However, Singapore
experienced a significant “second wave” of cases, centered
in the crowded quarters where migrant workers live, which
prompted authorities to close schools and most businesses,
steps that it had avoided earlier. As the cases stabilized in
early May, Singapore was poised to open up parts of its
economyranging from counterterrorism to
counter-proliferation.
Singapore and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Although its COVID-19 incidence rate is one of Southeast
Asia’s highest, Singapore’s fatality rate for the disease is
among the lowest of affected countries. Singapore was one
of the first nations outside China to report cases, with its
first infection reported on January 23. Public health experts
praised Singapore’s rapid early actions, including extensive
monitoring of cases and their contacts, temperature checks
at building entrances, and clear public messaging. However,
Singapore experienced a significant “second wave” of
cases, centered in the crowded quarters where migrant
workers live, which prompted authorities to temporarily
close schools and most businesses, steps that it had avoided
earlier. Its economy contracted by 41.7% in the April-June
quarter.
Singapore’s approach to controlling the outbreak included
employing the armed forces to make up to 2,000 visits per
day to search for carriers. As new cases were reported,
Singapore health officials conducted detailed interviews of
affected individuals, requiring those who have come into
contact came into contact
with them to quarantine themselves. The Health
Ministry developed the capacity to test more than 8,000
individuals a day. Individuals found to Individuals found to
have misled health
officials are subject to criminal penalties
including fines
and the threat of imprisonment. The Health
Ministry issues
updates on individual cases and the
numbers of people
under care or protective quarantine, including details of
where each individual who has tested positive lives.
Singapore’s fatality rate for the disease was also identified
as among the lowest of affected countries.
Singapore Politics
Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) has won every
general election since the end of the British colonial era in
1959, and it continues to enjoy widespread support. The
PAP has delivered consistent economic growth, and
benefited from the country’s fragmented opposition and
pro-incumbent 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. However, inIn the most recent general
election,
held in 2015, the PAP won 83 of 89 parliamentary
seats. Voting is compulsory, and 93.7% of eligible voters
cast ballots in the 2015 election. The government must hold
the next elections by January 2021July 2020 against the backdrop of COVID-19, the
PAP won 83 of 93 parliamentary seats, but a record number
of opposition parties participated, and the PAP’s share of
the popular vote dropped to 61%, compared with 70% in
the previous 2015 polls.
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 widely heralded as the
architect of Singapore’s success and its rapid economic
development. 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, in office since 2004. In
November 2018, the PAP announced a new party
leadership slate, and
a group of younger party leaders chose
Finance Minister
Heng Swee Keat as its head, indicating
that he is likely to succeed Lee as Prime Minister.
succeed Lee as Prime Minister. However, the decline in the
PAP’s vote total in the most recent polls led many
observers to predict that Lee may remain Prime Minister for
longer than he had planned to ensure stability.
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. 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, public health, and immigration. Some
observers praise Singapore’s pragmatism, noting its
sustained economic growth and high standards of living.
Others criticize the government’s paternalistic approach,
saying that it stunts creativity and entrepreneurship and
contributes to rising income inequality.
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U.S.-Singapore Relations
The United States has criticized some aspects of
Singapore’s political system. The U.S. State Department’s
20182019 Human Rights Report mentioned “preventive
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U.S.-Singapore Relations
detention by government authoritiescited “preventive detention by
the government under various laws that
dispense with
regular judicial due process; monitoring
private electronic
or telephone communicationsconversations 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
restrictions on the press and internet, including criminal
libel laws; significant legal and regulatory limitations on the
rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; and
a law criminalizing sexual activities between men.” In the
past, the party has used defamation suits and libel
damages 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 Singaporetwo
countries agreed to an “enhanced” cooperation
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 with over $7
billion in sales under the Foreign Military Sales system, in
addition to over $37.6 billion in defense articles to
Singapore via Direct Commercial Sales.
The U.S. Navy maintains a logistical command unit—
Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific—in
Singapore that coordinates regional warship deployments and
logistics in the region
and logistics. 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) combat
ships and P-8 Poseidon aircraft have performed patrols in
the South
China Sea, participated in exercises with other
countries,
and provided disaster relief.
In November 2014, Singapore became the first Southeast
AsiaAsian country to join the U.S.-led Global Coalition to
Counter the Islamic State (IS). Singaporean troops have
served 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
Combined Joint Task Force’s headquarters. Singapore
participates in multilateral regional military exercises and
several bilateral exercises with the U.S. military on an
annual basis. Singapore operates three permanent advanced
fighter jet training detachments in the continental United
States, and in December 2019 the United States and
Singapore agreed to establish a fourth in Guam.
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.
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, Singapore,
providing a legal framework for the two countries’
customs authorities to work together tocustoms authorities to
together counter trafficking,
proliferation, and terrorism.
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, butand
the United States is its biggest foreign investor. In 2017, the
stock of U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Singapore
totaled in Singapore totaled
$274 billion, accounting for around 80% of total
U.S.
investment in Southeast Asia.
Between 2008 and 2016, the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP)
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.
As a trade-dependent economy, Singapore has pursued a
range of trade agreements. It has
concluded 22 bilateral and
regional free trade agreements (FTAs) regional FTAs, including the
U.S.-Singapore FTA (2003) and the CPTPP, and is pursuing
pursuing several more, including the Regional Comprehensive
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which
involves 16 Asian
nations. Singapore faces few obstacles
when conducting
trade negotiations. It: it has a mature,
globalized economy,
virtually no agricultural sector, and its manufacturing
manufacturing industry is focused on specialized products
such as highendhigh-end electronics and pharmaceuticals. The
country’s leaders
have shown concern about the impact that Sino-U.S.-trade
disputes may have are concerned about the potential impact
of Sino-U.S.-trade disputes on the Singapore economy.
Singapore’s Regional Role
Singapore is a founding member of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional forum that
aims to prevent regional disputes and encourage
cooperation, and helps Southeast Asia’s mostly small
countries influence regional diplomacy. 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 warned that efforts to “contain” China’s rise are
counterproductive. Of late, Singapore has worked to
smooth its ties with China, at least partly as a hedge against
possible U.S. disengagement from the region. However, in
2016, Singapore supported an international tribunal’s ruling
againstdeeming many of China’s claims in the South China Sea. Singapore
has a strong relationship with Taiwan, but it also adheres to
a one-China policy as
having no legal basis. Though it adheres to a one-China
policy, Singapore has a strong unofficial relationship with
Taiwan. Singapore portrays itself as a useful
intermediary,
providing a bridge to developing countries in
fora like
international climate negotiations.
Ben Dolven, Specialist in Asian Affairs
Emma Chanlett-Avery, Specialist in Asian Affairs
IF10228
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IF10228
U.S.-Singapore Relations
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