The Political Economy of Singapore and Its Development Strategies under USA-China Power Rivalry: A Choice of Hedging Policies

Abstract

Since the United States and China established diplomatic relations, this relationship has been encountered many difficulties; for example, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident, the 1999 US-led NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, the 2001 US-China aircraft collision in China’s Hainan Island, and China’s 15-year World Trade Organization accession negotiation process and its disputes later with the United States under the WTO, etc. Needless to say, the two great powers also have serious debates and arguments on the Taiwan issue. Under this long-term US-China strategic competition and conflict, Southeast Asian countries therefore have their views and considerations. They smartly have cooperated with China on trade and economic issues while are eagerly or kind of faithfully inclined toward the United States on political and militarily issues. This paper therefore wants to review first the neorealist assumptions on great powers’ relations, and then examine US-China strategic competition and rivalry in the Pacific. Also, it introduces Singapore’s domestic politics and foreign policy as well as its strategic hedging considerations and choices under US-China power rivalry and make a conclusion.

Keywords:

• Neorealism
• Singapore
• balance of power
• US-China power rivalry
• Southeast Asia
• Hedging

Notes

1 The CSFTA included a package of market access for Singaporean companies to China and provided transparency and predictability of business activities for Singaporean and Chinese companies. See “China and Singapore Signed Upgraded Agreement,” Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore, November 12, 2018, from https://www.mti.gov.sg/en/Newsroom/Press-Releases/2018/11/China-and-Singapore-Sign-Upgraded-Agreement, accessed on September 4, 2022.