[SaintessHeart]

You guys around Singapore are fcked. I finally found the article I was looking for a long time.

Spoiler for For those who can't access Wikileaks:

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001138

SIPDIS

DEPT OF INTERIOR FOR USFWS - S. KOHL
EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA
EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV APEC CN SN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT HU - SINGAPORE VISIT

Classified By: CDA Daniel Shields for Reasons 1.4 (b/d)

¶1. (C) Summary: During the State Visit to Singapore by
Chinese President Hu Jintao, China and Singapore reached four
agreements: the "loan" of two pandas, a tie-up between
Singapore University of Technology and Design and Zhejiang
University, the formalization of civil leadership exchanges,
and the establishment in Singapore of a China Cultural
Center. An MFA contact said the Singapore-China relationship
has moved on to the next level, in which the two sides do not
need to produce deliverables every time they meet. Other
observors were pleased that a potential flap was avoided over
Lee Kuan Yew's controversial (in China) U.S. speech in which
he called for a strong U.S. presence in Asia to balance
China's growing influence. End Summary.

The Deliverables
----------------

¶2. (C) Chinese President Hu Jintao made a State Visit to
Singapore in connection with his travel to the city-state for
the Asia Pacific Ecnomic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting
in mid-November. The government-influenced Straits Times
newspaper devoted most of its coverage to China's decision to
loan two pandas to Singapore for ten years. Other
deliverables were reportedly: a tie-up between Singapore
University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Zhejiang
University, the formalization of ongoing civil-leadership
exchanges, and the establishment in Singapore of a China
Cultural Center.

¶3. (C) MFA Northeast Asia Deputy Director Tracy Chan told
Poloff that the relative lack of substantive deliverables
should be taken as a sign that the PRC-Singapore relationship
has matured to the extent that the two sides do not need to
produce deliverables every time they meet. The PRC has been
consistent over the years in its approach to Singapore and
bilateral interactions and exchanges are now regularized to
the point that both sides have a general understanding of
what they hope to gain from the relationship. Contrasting
Singapore-PRC with Singapore-U.S. relations, Chan said China
is like the parent who is always there; for better or worse,
you know what to expect and your attitude toward the parent
is tempered. The United States, on the other hand, is like
the parent who travels too much; whenever that parent gives
the child attention, the kid just laps it up, Chan said.

¶4. (C) Commenting on Zhejiang-SUTD tie up, Professor Huang
Jing, visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy, noted that SUTD, Singapore's third major (and newest)
university, had also recently signed a cooperation agreement
with MIT. Singapore and the United States would need to take
note, Huang warned, because China will hope to tap into MIT's
expertise. China is keen to gain access to advanced
technologies in the areas of space science, biotech and IT,
all areas which MIT and SUTD will have some expertise, Huang
said.

¶5. (C) The formalization of existing civil-leader exchanges
simply regularizes an ongoing process whereby a steady stream
of Chinese leaders come to Singapore to learn about good
governance and infrastructure development, Chan said.

¶6. (C) The PRC will operate the new Chinese cultural center
to be built in Singapore, Chan said. The establishment of
the center is in recognition of the deepening ties between
the two countries and the fact that Singapore recruits an
ever-expanding pool of Chinese to emigrate to Singapore and
"become Singaporean," Chan said.

¶7. (C) Commenting on the pandas, Chan said Singapore closely
studied the U.S.-China Panda Loan program. Chan said
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) and the China Wildlife
Conservation Association (CWCA) signed a ten-year agreement
that commits the WRS to pay CWCA several hundred thousand
dollars per year for each panda for use in panda habitat
protection and research. Commenting on the controversy
created two years ago when Atlanta and Memphis zoos publicly
complained about the high costs (USD 1,000,000 per panda per
year) those zoos were paying for their pandas, Chan noted
that Singapore negotiated a much better deal, somewhere in
the realm of what the San Diego Zoo recently negotiated
(approximately USD 600,000 per year).

SINGAPORE 00001138 002 OF 002



No Major Hiccup in Relation to LKY Speech
-----------------------------------------

¶8. (C) Professor Huang noted that while Chinese netizens
were highly critical of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's speech
at the US-ASEAN Business Council in Washington in October (in
which LKY called for a strong U.S. presence in Asia to
"balance" China's growing influence), there was little
political fallout during President Hu's visit as the PRC
delegation did not make an issue of the speech. Perhaps the
PRC treated Singapore somewhat coldly, Huang said, but the
Chinese were not openly critical of Singapore or LKY. While
the PRC did accept Singapore's offer of a State Visit for
President Hu Jintao, the PRC delegation for the most part
minimized its interaction with the GOS and instead focused on
its interactions with the other major countries attending
APEC, Huang said.

Singapore-Taiwan
----------------

¶9. (C) The PRC indicated to Singapore that any
Singapore-Taiwan bilats should only be held after APEC, Chan
told Poloff. Singapore tacitly complied with the PRC's
wishes and when Singapore held its bilat with Taiwan's
representative to APEC after APEC officially ended, China
made no critical comments. Chan stressed that this stands in
stark contrast to the years of the Chen administration, when
the PRC sought to isolate Taiwan at every opportunity.

PRC's Long-Term Plans for Singapore
-----------------------------------

¶10. (C) Professor Huang said that although China made clear
to Singapore during the Hu visit that China is more important
to Singapore than vice versa, China still sees the utility of
a positive relationship with Singapore. China is enticed by
Singapore's strategic location along the Straits of Malacca,
Huang said. China views the Straits of Malacca as one of the
three critical straits it must control in time of conflict,
the other two being the Straits of Tsushima (between Japan
and S. Korea) and the Taiwan Strait. Singapore is also the
only Asia-Pacific country (outside of the United States and
Japan) that has the capability to provide logistical support
for a blue-water navy, Huang said. As China develops its
blue water capabilities, it will push hard to learn as much
as it can from Singapore about how to provide logistical
support for such a fleet. Huang suggested that sometime in
the 2015-2020 time-frame, the PRC would likely send its
then-to-be-built aircraft carrier to Singapore for its first
international port visit. The PRC would then likely seek to
formalize access to Changi naval base as a major logistical
port for its fleet.

So all these pro-China stuff (including the fcking China Cultural Center) is actually to allay a takeover? Bad move, they already taken over us with the number of PRs!

Despite me having reservations against the government, at least they are sensible......

Spoiler for More:

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 000166

SIPDIS

EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA,
STATE ALSO FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON EFIN CN SN
SUBJECT: SINGAPORE TAKES NOTICE AS CHINA BECOMES MORE
ASSERTIVE

Classified By: CDA DANIEL SHIELDS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B +D)

¶1. (C) Summary: A recent editorial about tensions in U.S.-
China relations in the Government-influenced Straits Times
was intended to curry favor with a more assertive China,
Singapore analysts told PolChief. China has emerged from the
economic crisis emboldened and will likely follow through on
its threat to enact some sort of sanctions against U.S.
companies, analysts said. Singapore hopes the United States
will not back down in the face of Chinese pressure because
that would encourage China to become increasingly assertive
in its dealings with other countries on issues such as its
claims in the South China Sea. However, Singapore also fears
a continued escalation of tensions between the United States
and China, which Singapore believes would only be bad for the
region, analysts said. End Summary.

The Unabashedly Pro-China Editorial
-----------------------------------

¶2. (C) The Government-influenced Straits Times newspaper
published a slew of articles during the week of February 8th
concerning recent tensions between the United States and
China. While most of the articles presented a balanced
assessment of the reasons for tensions and postulated that
they would likely blow over soon, one editorial put the blame
for the rise in tensions squarely on the United States. The
editorial stated that the recently announced U.S. arms sales
to Taiwan were "ill-conceived, almost provacative...and that
it is not credible to expect Chinese support or acquiescence
in denying Iran a nuclear capability if it is at the expense
of China's old linkages with Tehran."

¶3. (C) Straits Times Senior Writer William Choong told
PolChief that an editorial such as this with no byline is
considered the official position of the newspaper, and that
the paper's Senior Editor is responsible for vetting its
content and message. Articles in the Straits Times,
including unattributed editorials, generally support the
Government of Singapore's position on issues. "The article
does not represent Singapore's view on China, but it does
represent some in Singapore's view," Choong said.
Acknowledging that most of the articles on the issue
(including his own) did not take a "pro-China" stance, Choong
suggested that the reason the newspaper put out this kind of
editorial was to acknowledge an emerging view in Singapore of
a more assertive China and the subsequent need for more
"balanced" reporting on China issues. Choong said that as an
experiment that he would try to write a more pro-U.S.
editorial and see if the Senior Editor would allow it to be
published.

The Rise and Influence of China's Bloggers
-------------------------------------------

¶4. (C) Singapore was surprised by the vociferous negative
reaction of China's blogger community to remarks made by
Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew during an April 2009
visit to the United States in which he said the United States
should maintain a robust presence in Asia in order to balance
a rising China, East Asia Institute Professor Lye Liang Fook
told Polchief. Given the blogger community's negative
reaction, the GOS was grateful that the Government of China
did not also publicly criticize LKY's comments, Lye said.
Recounting the downturn in Singapore-China relations brought
about by the Government of China's negative response to then
Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to Taiwan in
2004, Lye said Singapore is beginning to conclude that it
needs to tread more carefully on issues that China considers
part of its core interests. The rise of China's blogger
community and Beijing's perceived need to pander to an
increasingly nationalistic domestic audience mean it is
unlikely that Beijing would again turn a blind eye to
comments it perceived to be anti-China, Lye said.

China More Assertive
--------------------

¶5. (C) While China has always wanted the United States to be
more sensitive to and respectful of its core interests, such
as Taiwan and Tibet, China feels it is now in a stronger
position to change the traditional calculus in its relations
with the United States, Lye said. China wants to let the
United States know that it now has the ability to impose
tangible penalties, he said. Lye speculated that China would
go through with its threat to enact at least some form of

SINGAPORE 00000166 002 OF 002


sanctions against U.S. companies, even temporarily, if only
to allow it to ease tensions by eventually removing the
sanctions.

¶6. (C) Singapore has noted the change in China's attitude
and is closely watching developments in U.S.-China relations,
said Lye. Despite China's new assertiveness, Singapore hopes
that the United States will not back down, by putting off a
meeting with the Dali Lama, for example, as that would only
embolden China in other areas, Lye said. Singapore is
concerned that if China's new assertiveness causes the United
States to back down, China might take a harder edge in its
dealings with individual ASEAN countries, especially in its
effort to press its claims in the South China Sea. Lye
added, however, that Singapore hopes the United States can
protect its interests without further escalating tensions,
which he believed would be bad for the region and for
Singapore.

So I might be right actually about the TPP, we signed it because we wanted US support against China in this region, at the expense of media freedom and letting those robber barons run over us.

That aside, I wonder if this confrontation is meant to draw attention away from the slowing economy, CCP internal power grab, and "state companies" evicting farmers from their land or draining polluted liquids into their farmlands. Looks like a repeat of the Argentine-British Conflict.