Singapore’s China Security Approach-beyond Realism?

Singapore is most notably known as one of the smallest yet most prosperouscountries in Southeast Asia, but has often demonstrated an international presence largelydisproportionate to its physical size. In the common analysis of Singapore’s foreign andsecurity policy making, findings usually denote that it is heavily guided by the realisttheory. This paper however, argues that Singapore’s leaders’ approach in dealing withsecurity issues is often less than loyal to realist precepts in physical terms.Research in this paper was conducted on realist behavior and small statecharacteristics, to understand how theory and physical attributes both contribute to theforming of Singapore’s security policy towards major powers like China. As Chinagains increasing economic and security significance in the Southeast Asia, so does itspertinence towards security issues in the region. While Singapore demonstrates astrategy which is both underscored by realist assumptions and is characteristically smallstate, its approach towards China extends beyond these two paradigms to include avocalism and pragmatism that is uniquely Singapore.As we enter into the discussion of China and regional security, two of the majorsecurity issues–the South China Sea territorial conflicts and the Taiwan Straits issue–come to mind. While Singapore does not have a direct stake in either of these issues,any armed conflict that occurs over these two issues would undoubtedly destabilize theregion and affect Singapore’s national security interests, especially in the case wherelarge powers such as China and U.S. are involved, both of which Singapore wishes tomaintain close ties with. In analysis of these two security issues, we can observe howSingapore extends its strategy beyond the realist understanding to strike a balancebetween ensuring continued engagement of China and retaining autonomy in itsrelations with other countries.The paper concludes that Singapore’s security strategy cannot be explained insimplistic realist terms. The ever changing conditions of its security environment, aswell as its desire to “punch above its weight” as an important security interlocutor,necessitate an approach whose complexity falls beyond theoretical understanding.