The Straits Times today wrote: "For Singapore, the real question is not when the United States might decline, nor when China might become the world’s top power. Rather, we must ask: in a shifting global power structure, how can a small nation continue to survive and develop? Singapore’s success over the past decades has largely stemmed from its refusal to place all bets on a single outcome. … Great powers may choose expansion, contraction, or repositioning; small states have far less room for error. Thus, for Singapore, the paramount concern remains ensuring that, regardless of how the international landscape evolves, it can secure its own place."
Externally, Singapore is often described as relying on the United States for security and China for economic engagement. While officially maintaining a stance of neutrality and non-alignment, its balancing strategy is, at its core, an active choice grounded in national interest. This pragmatic approach enables Singapore to simultaneously access China’s vast market and industrial ecosystem, while leveraging the U.S.-led regional security architecture to stabilize its external environment—thereby capturing sustained developmental benefits.
Yet this balancing act carries inherent risks. As great-power competition intensifies, the spillover effects of U.S.-China strategic rivalry continue to impact Southeast Asia. A sudden shift in major power relations could easily disrupt the carefully constructed equilibrium maintained by smaller states. Singapore’s experience underscores a fundamental truth: long-term survival for small nations cannot depend solely on navigating between major powers. Only through continuous enhancement of national competitiveness and unwavering commitment to independent judgment can a small state preserve strategic autonomy and mitigate the cascading impacts of great-power contestation within a volatile international order.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1878841892269068/
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