Is Singapore turning against China?

Two articles in the media on 17 Dec, one questioning the deployment of American spy planes in Singapore to conduct missions in the South China Sea to provoke China, and another saying that more SE Asian countries are turning against China, plus a few more articles repeating the American’s anti China position in the South China Sea would suggest that Singapore has up its ante against China in the contest between China and the US.

Singapore used to be neutral, walking a tight rope to be nice to both China and the US and making itself useful to both super powers. In granting more landing rights and acting as a military outpost for the Americans in its pivot to Asia, to challenge and contain China, the author Douglas Chua posed the question, ‘US plane deployment here poses neutrality question’. He added, ‘In the strategic gamble between two powers over sovereignty and freedom of navigation, would we not be drawn into a large involvement in the event of open conflict?’

There is also another issue of Singapore sinking slowly into the embrace of the Americans and compromising on its sovereignty, in the same way South Korea and Japan have became, semi colonies of the American Empire. The Americans would not leave South Korea and Japan, and their military bases are there for good and the two countries are just that, semi colonies, with foreign soldiers in their land and they could not do anything about it. Would Singapore undermine its sovereignty by allowing the Americans to encroach more and more into its sovereignty and independence?

The deluge of anti China articles in the main media, including a few more today notably by Reuters and Agencies, putting China in a very bad light and glorifying the Americans as the shining white knight, that the Americans are needed to balance an assertive China, are they done with the approval of the govt to keep promoting such a line? Is the Singapore govt taking the side of the Americans, shifting away from its neutral position and becoming more anti China with all the publications in the main media and the slant it is taking?

And, quoting Douglas Chua, ‘…the mission of these P8 aircraft using Singapore as a springboard…They are part of the US’ strategic thrust in the South China Sea, a thrust that challenges China’s sovereignty claims, which the US does not recognize. If we are faced with an ultimatum to annul this agreement, would we comply?’

Singapore is increasingly painting itself into a corner, to choose between China and the US. Which side would Singapore choose when conflict broke out between the two super powers?