China yesterday said that it had lodged a diplomatic protest with Singapore after Singaporean armored troop carriers were seized by Hong Kong customs en route back from Taiwan, as a state-owned newspaper warned against Singapore’s “hypocrisy.”
The nine troop carriers and other military equipment were impounded in Hong Kong on Wednesday, sparking a rebuke to Singapore from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs about maintaining military ties with Taiwan.
“China has already made representations over this to the Singapore side,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) said at a regular news briefing yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
China had also “demanded” that Singapore abide by Hong Kong’s laws and cooperate with the Hong Kong government to handle follow-up work, he added.
China always opposes countries which have relations with China also having “any form of official exchanges with the Taiwan region, including military exchanges and cooperation,” Geng said.
The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, warned that Singapore’s “hypocrisy” over its military relationship with Taiwan could harm its relations with China.
“It is no longer reasonable for Singapore to continue ... any kind of military exchange with Taiwan,” an opinion piece written by a commentator identified only as Ai Jun (愛軍), which is a homonym for “love the army.”
“For quite some time, Singapore has been pretending to seek a balance between China and the US, yet has been taking Washington’s side in reality,” the article said.
It accused the city-state of “hypocrisy” and threatened punitive measures that would “profoundly impact Singapore’s economy.”
Singapore and Taiwan have a longstanding military relationship that began after a defense agreement, “Project Starlight,” was signed in 1974 and involves Taiwan being used as grounds for Singaporean infantry training.
The city-state sends up to 15,000 troops a year for training alongside Taiwan’s military.
Beijing has grudgingly tolerated this agreement since China and Singapore re-established diplomatic relations in the 1990s.
Singapore in recent years has explored closer military ties with China, conducting a joint exercise in 2014.
Additional reporting by AFP
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