Lecture I: What the Great Powers Demand of Singapore
The lecture asks what Washington and Beijing want and how history and geography shape their choices. It uses “strategic empathy” not as concession, but to understand another state’s interests and calculations. It separates the South China Sea, the Diaoyu or Senkaku Islands and Taiwan into questions of maritime entitlement, sovereignty and strategic access, showing why some elements can be negotiated and others only managed. Yet even settlement of these disputes would not end competition over technology, finance, markets and military access. It looks at what drives American policy at home as well as abroad, and at how the powers’ positions, and the facts on the ground, have shifted over time. It also asks whether the US would remain engaged in the region if its power waned, and what an accommodation between the two powers would mean. What will this rivalry ask of Singapore, and what might turn demands we can absorb individually into pressure across multiple fronts?
To find out more about Mr Ng Chee Khern, the 19th S R Nathan Fellow, click here.