Will Starlight training in Taiwan be affected due to warmer S'pore-China defence ties?

While Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing grabbed the headlines during PM Lee Hsien Loong's official visit to China, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen was there too.

He even stayed back in Beijing to do his own thing, while PM Lee journeyed on to Fujian.

On Sept. 22, he shared in a Facebook post an update on the defence-related talks he held with his counterparts, which you can see below:

You can see part of his post here:

"For defence, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense General Chang Wanquan was also kind enough to meet during this busy period. During the meeting, we both explored concrete and practical ways to deepen our defence relations based on the Four-Point Consensus agreed to in 2014. GEN Chang fully supported more and frequent high level exchanges among top commanders in the People’s Liberation Army and the SAF.

We also wanted to step up bilateral exercises between our navies and armies. As ASEAN-China coordinator and ASEAN Chair next year, Ministry of Defence, Singapore (MINDEF) will do its part to step up practical cooperation between China and ASEAN, to promote stability and progress in this region. I extended to GEN Chang an open invitation to visit Singapore, for us to repay his warmth and hospitality during this trip."

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"Breaking new ground"

Chinese state media outlet Xinhua also reported on the meeting between Ng and Chang.

It quoted Chang as saying:

"...leaders of both countries attach great importance to the development of bilateral relations, and the two countries should back each other on their core interests and major concerns.
Military ties are an important part of bilateral ties between the two countries, and China is willing to break new ground for cooperation with Singapore, he said." (Emphasis ours)

Unlike Ng's specific references to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two navies and armies, Chang's offer to "break new ground" in defence relations is notable.

It has raised eyebrows among observers who are closely reading the Singapore-China relations tea leaves, as the comments reflect China's long term approach of exerting pressure on Singapore to cut ties with a long-standing defence cooperation partner -- Taiwan, which they regard as a renegade province to be reunified with mainland by force if necessary.

The RSN's RSS Valiant (left) and RSS Intrepid (right) participating in a manoeuvring exercise with the PLA(N)'s Yulin (middle). Photo courtesy of the PLA (N) via MINDEF.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post(SCMP) had earlier published a high speculative article quoting unnamed sources to push for China's position. It raised the possibility that the Starlight Project between Singapore and Taiwan might be suspended as relations with China improve.

However, it is clear from Ng's Facebook post that this is not about to happen any time soon.

What about Starlight?

No, not the Taylor Swift song. Project Starlight is one of Singapore's longest-standing bilateral defence agreements.

It was agreed in 1975 between then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then Taiwan Premier Chiang Ching-Kuo. As Singapore had limited land and air space, we would train our SAF units in Taiwan instead.

The defence cooperation between Singapore and Taiwan continued even after Singapore formally established ties with China in 1990, which is a highly unusual situation, given China's insistence on the "One-China" policy internationally.

An "understanding" with China

While Singapore has established agreements for the SAF to train in other countries, Starlight remains significant due to our political and security considerations.

In his book Diplomacy: A Singapore Experience, former Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Jayakumar mentioned that Singapore had an "understanding" with China over Project Starlight, even though they wanted to put an end to it:

"China has always wanted Singapore to end our SAF training in Taiwan. China has on a number of occasions even offered us alternative training facilities to those in Taiwan but we have always declined these offers because of concerns about adverse reactions from our neighbours."

On the other hand, Project Starlight is also vulnerable to the vicissitudes of cross-strait relations.

We got a little taste of it in Nov. 2016, when nine of the SAF's Terrex vehicles were held by Hong Kong customs, having taken part in Project Starlight. They were eventually returned back to Singapore but only reached home on Jan. 30, 2017.

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Will Starlight training in Taiwan be affected due to warmer S'pore-China defence ties?

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