Other Countries Are Small Countries, and That’s Just a Fact: Singapore’s Efforts to Navigate US-China Strategic Rivalry

Abstract

Singapore’s approach to the US-China competition so far is to continue claiming that it “does not wish to choose sides” between Washington and Beijing. This position-in place since the end of the Cold War-depends on two key conditions: that Singapore does not have intractable and indivisible differences with both major powers and that a significant overlap in interests exists between the United States and China. So long as such conditions hold, Singapore has significant flexibility and room for maneuver to maximize opportunities for cooperation with both major powers. Singapore’s longstanding approach to managing relations with the United States and China may become more risky and costly as the US-China rivalry intensifies, but whether its leadership can find an adequate and timely alternative remains in question and will be in the focus of the present chapter.