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Taiwan–Singapore relations are foreign relations between Taiwan and Singapore. Both countries have had unofficial relations since the independence of Singapore and establishment of ROC rule over the island of Taiwan. Taiwan has a representative office in Singapore. Conversely, Singapore is represented by what is known as the Singapore Trade Office in Taiwan. The two nations have enjoyed an extensive relationship in many facets such as trade and defence, most noticeably being Singapore’s establishment of military bases in Taiwan for its troops to conduct overseas training.

1. Agreements

In 2010, bilateral trade talks commenced to explore the feasibility of an economic cooperation agreement between the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei) and Singapore, both of whom are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) . On 12 September 2012, former Taiwanese Vice-President Lien Chan announced that talks between Taiwan and Singapore on a proposed economic partnership agreement are expected to be finalised by the end of the year . The successful implementation of this economic partnership would mean that both countries will enjoy free trade between one another.

2. Cooperation

Business and Trade

The Taipei Representative Office in Singapore has been actively promoting trade as well as encouraging mutual start-ups by businesses and enterprises between the two countries. Moreover, in 2009, the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei was honoured for its role in developing close economic ties between the two sides. Taiwan is Singapore’s ninth largest trading partner, with bilateral trade topping S$35 billion in 2008 .

Military

When Singapore started building up its military soon after independence, the Republic of China (Taiwan) was one of the few places to offer assistance by providing training areas to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to conduct military exercises. This was crucial to Singapore as it was a small country which suffered from land-scarcity making it difficult to conduct large-scale military exercises for its soldiers. Since 1975, the Singapore Army has used bases in Taiwan for military training that included combined arms exercises involving infantry, artillery, and armoured units. These exercises, engaging as many as 10,000 troops at one time, provided officers a chance to simulate wartime conditions more closely and gain experience in the command and control of operations involving several battalions . Although China has officially offered Singapore to shift its training facilities to Hainan Island, this has been refused in order to maintain its policy of neutrality between the ‘One China’ policy and its relations with Taiwan . It also signals that Taiwan-Singapore ties are strong.

3. Controversies

Just before the current Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong took office from the then incumbent Goh Chok Tong, he made a visit to Taiwan to familiarise himself with the latest developments there. The Taiwanese media, however, made use of this opportunity to publicise his visit with the agenda of highlighting it to Mainland China . Condemnation came swiftly, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue accusing Lee Junior of "hurting the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese". Meetings and business transactions between Singapore and China were reportedly frozen overnight. As a result, in his maiden National Day Rally speech, Lee criticized the Taiwanese leadership and populace of overestimating the support they would receive if they were to declare Taiwan independence . Later that year in September, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo cautioned the United Nations General Assembly about the dangers of letting the cross-strait relationship deteriorate. This led to Taiwan's Foreign Minister, Mark Chen, to infamously describe Singapore as a ‘nation no bigger than a piece of snot’ (鼻屎大ㄟ國家) in Taiwanese . Supporters of Taiwanese independence also burned the flag of Singapore as a sign of protest against George Yeo’s comments at the United Nations . This did not go down well with the majority of the Singaporean public. These incidents marked an all-time low in foreign relations between the two sides although Chen did make a formal apology later regarding his comments.

4. Issue of Taiwanese Independence

On 3 October 1990, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Singapore established formal diplomatic relations. Relationship between the two sides has since improved tremendously. As such, Taiwan's trade mission in Singapore was subsequently renamed from "Trade Mission of the Republic of China" to "Taipei Representative Office in Singapore” . Even so, Singapore has always wanted to maintain its warm ties with Taiwan in order to show its neutrality on cross-strait relations. Although it officially supports the ‘One China’ policy, it must also be noted that Singapore is the only foreign country to currently own military bases in Taiwan and it continues to send its troops there for an annual military exercise known as Exercise Starlight (星光計畫) . Singapore’s policy toward Taiwan is an example of the tightrope that Southeast Asian countries must walk in the new era of an increasingly powerful China asserting itself.