“…The U.S. is Singapore’s largest foreign investor with around 6,000 American companies based in the city-state. Singapore also runs a goods trade deficit with Washington to the tune of about $3.6 billion, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Meanwhile, China has been Singapore’s largest trading partner, and Singapore has been China’s largest foreign investor.
Singapore will “refuse to choose” one over the other, he added. “The way we conduct our affairs is we assess what is in Singapore’s long term national interests, and if I have to say no to Washington or Beijing or anyone else, we don’t flinch from that.”
“We are acting in our own long term national interest. We will be useful, but we will not be made use of,” he added.
‘Choke points matter’
Separately, Balakrishnan also said that said the conflict in the Middle East had shown that “chokepoints matter,” pointing out that Singapore also sits astride one of the world’s critical trade arteries in the form of the Strait of Malacca.
At its narrowest point, the Strait of Malacca is two nautical miles, compared to 21 nautical miles for the Strait of Hormuz.
The minister was also asked if the actions of Iran in trying to extract tolls from ships passing the Strait of Hormuz would be have other countries thinking of also collecting tolls through chokepoints such as the Strait of Malacca…”