I am saddened that the Singapore Armed Forces, at the behest of the PAP government, is participating in a bilateral military exercise with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The move clearly shows that the Singapore government is turning a blind eye to the territorial aggression that China has exhibited toward the East Asian seas in recent years.
The joint military exercises, entitled Cooperation 2014, which begins on Sunday and is being held in Nanjing, will end on Nov 9. About 70 personnel each from the SAF and the PLA are taking part in the eight-day exercise which will include professional seminars and a company-level conventional infantry exercise featuring a live-firing demonstration.
And yet, just last month in October, Beijing has continued pressing claims to ownership of more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, asserting itself over waters enclosed by its so-called “nine-dash line” (see picture on the left). The line is not recognized at all by the United Nations, and has absolutely no standing whatsoever in the international community.
China’s territorial assertiveness which it backs by its military power has caused fear, uncertainty and doubt amongst residents of the region.
The purpose of China’s territorial aggressiveness is to gain control of the major shipping and trading routes in East Asia and to become a regional hegemon. However its confrontational methods and the use of its military to project power over disputed territories are not consistent with building a peaceful and harmonious East Asian region.
By participating in with the PLA in a military exercise in an effort to forge closer ties, Singapore is ignoring China’s military aggression in East Asia in recent years for the sake of selfish economic gain. I therefore strongly object to what my government is doing.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8937