Daily Lessons from Life 19 September 2017 - Treasure Sino-Sgp tie! Right moves...

"Singapore to promote stronger cooperation between ASEAN and China: PM Lee

BEIJING: Singapore will promote stronger cooperation between ASEAN and China when it takes over as ASEAN chair next year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Tuesday (Sep 19).

Mr Lee is on a three-day official visit to China from Tuesday to Thursday."

and

"Singapore, China sign MOU for Belt and Road Initiative dispute mediation

SINGAPORE: The Singapore International Mediation Centre and the Mediation Center of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade / China Chamber of International Commerce on Tuesday (Sep 19) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to help businesses resolve disputes that may arise under China's Belt and Road Initiative.

China's Belt and Road Initiative aims to facilitate trade and investment between China and other countries through infrastructure investment."

I had criticised PM Lee's misguided foreign policies n behaviours a few months back when he kept telling PRC China what to do in the SCS arena as well as making unhelpful remarks on TPP, at APEC in Lima on how no country can be the middle kingdom, etc. The way the Foreign Minister n Defence Minister responded on the "detention of our Personal Armour Carriers in Hkg SAR" were also unproductive to resolving the issue.

So, I want to compliment this development of responding positively to China's current friendly gestures.

The MOU for International Mitigation from the BRI program is great as it leverage Sgp's strength in motivating international disputes. 

Like I reiterated in the past, when dealing with big powers, we just need to focus on maintaining mutual benefits n stop poking out noses into areas where we r not directly impacted negatively immediately. 

On sovereignty, suffice to state Sgp is an independent sovereign country n as a small country we rely on international law to help us resolve any international territorial disputes.

May the cordial relationship restored can be kept as is n further improve between Sino-Sgp.