II - State of Play

Summary

SINGAPORE-U.S. RELATIONS

The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the dismantling of bipolarity in international affairs saw one of the clearest reaffirmations of Singapore's foreign policy outlook. On 4 August 1989, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs George Yeo told Parliament that Singapore was prepared to allow the U.S. to use some of its military facilities to make it easier for the Philippines to continue hosting the American bases at Clark airfield and Subic naval bay. Singapore's stance basically was that the Philippines Government was coming under increasing domestic pressure on the American bases; and although all non-communist Southeast Asian countries enjoyed the protection of the U.S. cover, Manila was the only capital to have to bear the political burden of hosting them. Although the military facilities that Singapore was offering were negligible in physical terms — all of Singapore could fit into the Subic naval base — the move was a pointed gesture of support for the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia. Such gestures were seen as being necessary because the end of the Cold War was coinciding with a deepening of America's economic problems and a strengthening of U.S. domestic sentiments in favour of military disengagement abroad and the diversion of saved resources to the domestic economy. By making it easier for the U.S. to remain engaged abroad, beneficiaries of its presence would be furthering their own interests in an era when the domestic mood in the U.S. was in favour of isolationism.

Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in November 1990 and a visit by President George H.W. Bush in January 1992, Singapore agreed in principle to accommodate a U.S. naval logistics element from Subic. (Meanwhile, the Philippines had served notice on the United States that it would have to vacate Clark and Subic by the end of 1992.) The American presence, predicated on a “places, not bases” strategy, reflected a policy of forward deployment adjusted to suit changing strategic and economic needs.