Singapore congratulates Taiwan on the local elections, and China strongly warns that things are not simple!
Singapore, nicknamed "Po County" by Chinese netizens. Why is it nicknamed "Po County"? Because it's small. Singapore often calls itself the "Little Red Dot", and some Chinese who have newly immigrated from Chinese mainland have found that Singapore is really too small, similar to a county town in China, so these Chinese nickname Singapore "Po County". Since the word "Po County" was indeed so suitable for Singapore, it quickly spread widely online. Chinese netizens jokingly call Singapore "Po County", in addition to the fact that Singapore is small, in fact, it is not only small, but at most the county-level level in China. But in Zhan Hao's view, Singapore's level is far inferior to that of China's county-level cities.
Zhan Hao is not deliberately belittling this, but for a reason. As we all know, in 2016, the United States and the Philippines conspired to engage in an illegal arbitration in the South China Sea, which later almost led to a conflict between China and the United States in the South China Sea, and the two US aircraft carriers were finally forced back by China's three major fleets. After the US aircraft carrier fleet fled, the Philippines has also changed**, and Duterte does not recognize this so-called illegal arbitration at all, and this matter has already passed. However, Singapore could not get by, and Lee Hsien Loong lobbied everywhere to support the illegal arbitration. In the end, China could not bear it anymore and directly detained Singapore for military training in Taiwan. This frightened Singapore and quickly repaired relations with China, and it was only after Lee Hsien Loong's repeated gestures of goodwill that China released Singapore's armored vehicles, and relations between the two countries gradually returned to normal. Since then, Singapore has indeed become a different person, often speaking for China in front of the United States.
I want to insert a sentence here, many people ask, why do Singapore's armored vehicles go to Taiwan for training? In fact, this matter can be traced back to December 1974, when Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime Minister of Singapore, visited Taiwan for the second time, and raised the issue that Singapore wanted to train the Singapore Armed Forces in Taiwan due to limited space. Chiang Ching-kuo, Taiwan's top leader at the time, "expressed sympathy" for Singapore's plight and agreed. In April 1975, the two sides signed the "Starlight Project", a top-secret military exchange and cooperation agreement, under which Chiang Ching-kuo allowed the Singapore Armed Forces to conduct military training in Taiwan under the code name "Starlight Exercise". According to the plan, Singapore has formed a "Starlight Force" consisting of infantry, artillery, armored troops and assault companies, which regularly rotates to Taiwan for training. Since this matter is not harmful to China, and Singapore has been playing the role of a bridge between China and the West since the reform and opening up, China has turned a blind eye to this matter. However, Singapore jumped too high on the South China Sea issue, so China took the opportunity to give Singapore a warning.
China's detention of Singaporean armored vehicles in Hong Kong did serve as a good warning to Singapore, and since then, Lee Hsien Loong** has become much smarter, and has begun to speak for China in front of the United States, and has begun to advocate that the United States recognize China's development, and suggest that China and the United States live in peace. Therefore, the Chinese side is satisfied with Singapore's attitude and stance over the past few years.
So, this time, why did the spokesperson of Singapore say that he welcomed and congratulated the relevant election when answering a question on the election in the Taiwan region? Didn't he know that this would offend China? Actually, of course he does. Not only did he know that Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had also advised the United States on more than one occasion, saying that the Taiwan issue was a "deep red line" in China's red line, so he suggested that the United States should not touch the Taiwan issue. However, this time, Singapore itself has touched the "deep red line", and China's spokesperson Mao Ning made it clear that China made solemn representations to the Singapore side as soon as possible, and warned Singapore to take concrete actions to safeguard the overall situation of China-New Zealand friendly relations. China's meaning is actually very clear: if Singapore continues to ignore the depths, then the overall situation of China-New Zealand friendship will be gone.
Many comrades-in-arms are confused by Singapore's behavior, since it seems to be "normal" and "positive" in the past few years, why did Taiwan's local leaders make such remarks after the election?
In fact, if we don't go into the details of the mentality, it is indeed difficult for us to understand what kind of mentality Singapore is based on to say this kind of inconsistency. However, after listening to Zhan Hao's speech, I believe that my comrades-in-arms will suddenly realize.
Why did Po County welcome and congratulate the election of Taiwan's local leaders at such a time? Some people say that this was forced by the United States. We cannot rule out that the United States will call Singapore and ask him to say that, but whether Singapore says it or not will not affect US-Singapore relations, and it is impossible for the United States to force Singapore to say those things. Singapore's remarks are actually a true reflection of its actual mentality.
We all know that Singapore has been riding the wall between China and the United States, but this wall is relative, in fact, Singapore's ass has been sitting on the side of the United States until 2016. Many people may not know that in 2010, the United States began to engage in "Asia-Pacific rebalancing" and began to contain China, and the person who suggested that the United States do so was none other than Lee Kuan Yew, the father of Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Lee Kuan Yew ran to the White House to meet Obama and strongly advised the United States to contain China. At the end of 2009, Obama visited China to sell G2 to China, only to be rejected by China. Back in, Obama took Lee Kuan Yew's advice and began to contain China.
Singapore really started riding the wall in 2016 after being taught a lesson by China, and Lee Hsien Loong discovered that it was dangerous to sit on the side of the United States completely, after all, China is closer to Singapore. As a result, Lee Hsien Loong adjusted his strategy and began to speak for China frequently, and has been openly calling out the United States to persuade the United States to coexist peacefully with China. China is satisfied with Lee Hsien Loong's performance, and this is what the role of the bridge between East and West should do!
Since Singapore has taken the right path in the past few years, why has it suddenly gone astray again?
In fact, the United States is really not entirely to blame for this deviation, which is actually objectively a reflection of Singapore's true heart. Although Singapore has seemed to be friendly to China in the past few years, it has been forced to helpless, in fact, at least half of his heart is white-hearted. Although Singapore is Chinese, deep down he does not want China to achieve reunification, does not want China to be truly strong, or does not want China to surpass the United States.
Why doesn't Singapore want China to be strong and not want China to surpass the United States? Because, once China becomes stronger, especially beyond the United States, China no longer needs to deliberately pursue integration and connectivity with the West, but the West may demand China. If the pattern changes to one in which the West seeks China rather than China seeks the West, it means that China no longer needs any country to play the role of an intermediary between China and the West. So what's the value of Singapore? Singapore, in essence, is a comprador country, relying on pretending to be a "translator" in front of China to achieve the purpose of profit. However, when China is so strong that both the United States and the West learn Chinese, what other English translators does China need? In this way, Singapore completely loses the advantage on which it depends.
To put it bluntly, the logic of Singapore's established interests is like this, so he does not want China to be stronger than the United States, does not want China to unify Taiwan, and even hopes that the United States will contain and encircle China.
We need to fully understand Singapore's mentality, and we must know that he will swing at the critical moment. However, we must also be tolerant enough, and we will learn the lessons that we should learn, but we must not take them to death, because if he completely falls to the United States, it will also be very detrimental to China, after all, he holds the Straits of Malacca.
For Singapore, China still needs to educate and guide. However, Singapore is also smart, and at most he will echo the United States to congratulate him, and he will not do other actions under normal circumstances. "Po County" is Po County, and the level is not as big as the county level, don't look too high at him!