Singapore’s foreign policy after leadership transition

Producer: Yvonne Gomez
First broadcast: August 11 04, Radio Singapore International

Political veteran, Professor S Jayakumar will be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister when Prime Minister-designate Lee Hsien Loong takes over the leadership reins Thursday, August 12.

He will hand over the Foreign Affairs portfolio to Brigadier-General George Yeo.

However, Professor Jayakumar is expected to continue to play a role in Singapore’s foreign policy issues.

With this Cabinet reshuffle, what new direction will Singapore’s foreign policy take?

A question Yvonne Gomez posed to Mr Mushahid Ali, senior fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies.

MA: First of all, I think the new Cabinet is a continuation, basically, of the old one. It’s a reshuffling of some old posts and personalities. So for the foreign policy aspect, I don’t see any particular change or any shift in foreign policy. It’ll be a continuation of what has been practiced and implemented in the past. Basically, Singapore will continue to make all efforts to ensure its security and its economic viability and prosperity, and to work for peace and stability in this region and around the world.

Incoming Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, former Foreign Affairs Minister, is still expected to play a role in Singapore’s foreign policy. Why is this necessary?

MA: I think the Singapore government has always operated on a collegial basis, where no single person is really responsible for everything under a ministry. You’ll find that they share their experiences, their knowledge, their information and ideas within a Cabinet system. And Cabinet committees, informal or formal have been formed to deal with specific issues. In this case, I think it’s interesting that they have decided to have a Cabinet committee which will oversee foreign affairs, where previously it was between the Foreign Minister, the Senior Minister and the Prime Minister, sort of looking after foreign affairs. Now you’ll have a Cabinet Committee overseeing many of these issues, particularly those concerning international law and legal disputes, or international issues in which Singapore is involved, such as the dispute over Pedra Branca and so on. The idea is, I think, that we have a collegial system with a senior and experienced former foreign affairs minister as deputy prime minister, together with the present foreign minister and his team, who will look at all the issues and advise the Prime Minister. Then the Cabinet, as a whole, will decide on foreign policy.

Brigadier-General George Yeo changes his portfolio from Trade and Industry Minister to Foreign Affairs Minister. With his experience in international trade and the economy, what will he bring to his new role?

MA: I think Brigadier-General George Yeo has valuable experience in having dealt with international trade issues, particularly at the WTO, and in promoting trade and economic relations around the world, particularly in matter dealing with the United States, Japan, Australia and so forth. He would bring a tremendous amount of experience in economic diplomacy. But we should also not forget that he spent his earlier career as a Second Minister of Foreign Affairs, so I think he’ll be bringing rich experience, both in international economic relations, as well as in foreign affairs, which he had earlier, to his new position.

Picking up on that point, earlier you mentioned Singapore’s economic prosperity in the same sentence as it foreign policy, just now, you mentioned economic diplomacy. So, what kind of synergy do you see between these two? How do you see us marrying economics and foreign policy in Singapore?

MA: I think foreign policies and economic policies are not separate. They are part of the same, overall thrust of our policies, which is to promote our economic survival and prosperity, as well as our physical survival, and for our foreign policy to have good relations with everybody, including our neighbours, countries in the region, and the big powers. And there is a great deal of trade and economics as well, in the promotion of these sorts of friendly relations around the world. So economic diplomacy and foreign policy, I think, go hand in hand.