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Singapore Superpowers
The United States
Relations between Singapore and the United States
became
strained in 1988 after the United States was accused of
meddling in
Singapore's internal affairs and a United States diplomat
was
expelled as a result of the charge. The United States had
objected
to the government's policy of restricting the circulation
of
several Hong Kong-based newspapers, including the Asian
Wall
Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic
Review, and
to the use of the Internal Security Act to detain
indefinitely
dissidents or those deemed a threat to the existing order.
The
expelled diplomat was accused of instigating members of
the
opposition to contest the 1988 elections. The essence of a
speech
on United States-Singapore relations, given by Lee Hsien
Loong
before the Asia Society in Washington, D.C., on May 16,
1989, was
that the relationship was strong but that the United
States should
refrain from interfering in Singapore's internal affairs.
The United States was Singapore's largest trading
partner in
the 1980s. It also was viewed as a benevolent power whose
military
presence in the region kept Soviet influence in check,
balanced
China's increasing military strength, and obviated Japan's
rearming. Singapore was concerned, however, that the
United States
eventually would tire of its role in the Asia-Pacific
region. This
concern was somewhat allayed in 1989 when President George
Bush,
demonstrating his commitment to maintain American
interests in the
area, both dispatched Vice President Dan Quayle on an
Asian tour
and visited the region himself in the first few months of
his
administration.
Data as of December 1989
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