The drama involving the impoundment of Singaporean military vehicles in Hong Kong escalated today with China’s The Global Times — a nationalist state-owned tabloid — publishing an op-ed lambasting Singapore about the alleged hypocrisy over the city-state’s relationship with Taiwan.
Nine Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles and associated equipment belonging to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) had been impounded by Hong Kong customs while en route from Taiwan to Singapore. Beijing wasn’t too happy with the discovery, and warned countries against maintaining military ties with Taiwan — a nation that the Chinese government regards as a breakaway province.
Aside from the rebuke by China’s foreign ministry about Singapore’s military ties with Taiwan, they also demanded that the republic abide by Hong Kong’s import and export laws.
A commentator going by the name of Ai Jun (appropriately, a homonym for “love the army”) had written the opinion piece in The Global Times, which is published by the official party newspaper The People’s Daily. The article only appeared in the paper’s English-language edition.
Singapore and Taiwan have been enjoying a longstanding military relationship since the ’70s, with the SAF conducting annual military exercises called Exercise Starlight, involving infantry, artillery and armoured units in Taiwan. It’s no secret that the exercises in Taiwan have been going on — it’s a common experience for most national servicemen in the army.
In his op-ed, ‘Ai Jun’ states that it is “no longer reasonable” for Singapore to continue their military exchanges with Taiwan as the city-state have already conducted formal diplomatic ties with China in 1990. Singapore’s “hypocrisy” was revealed he says, when the recently detained shipment of SAF’s vehicles showed that the city-state did not keep their word about suspending bilateral military cooperation with Taiwan.
The writer then goes on to criticise Singapore’s relationship with the United States and its position in the South China Sea issue.
“For quite some time, Singapore has been pretending to seek a balance between China and the US, yet has been taking Washington’s side in reality. Singapore was never a military ally of the US, but has given the green light to US military forces’ long-term presence at its Changi Naval Base as well as allowing US Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft to operate out of its airbases. This has turned Singapore into a platform for Washington to contain and deter Beijing.
Singapore claimed it was not picking sides in the South China Sea disputes, but its remarks about the issue are far from neutral; instead, it has actually complicated and expanded the scale of the case.”
The biggest accusation ‘Ai Jun’ made, however, was that Singapore might be adding friction to the relationship between Taiwan and China.
“The country, which used to know its boundaries, is losing its balance now. Its measures to contain China are becoming obvious. The military equipment seized by Hong Kong authorities this time further adds to the suspicion that Singapore might be working against the ‘one China’ principle.”
The last update given by the SAF was that their team have arrived in Hong Kong and met up representatives from APL, the container transportation and shipping company handling the delivery of the military equipment. The nine vehicles and equipment have since been shifted to a secured access-controlled area at the River Trade Terminal in Hong Kong.
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