Towards Strategic Pragmatism in Foreign Policy by Charles Chao Rong Phua

Author:Charles Chao Rong Phua
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

A policy of quiet support for any and all Cambodian governments while simultaneously opposing outside intervention was thus pursued from the 1960s onwards, from the first Sihanouk government, through the Lon Nol years, and even during the humanitarian abuses of the Khmer Rouge regime. This policy was prosecuted as a principle, being key to the national interest, despite the profound personal misgivings of the Singapore leadership concerning their interlocutors at any given time. Lee Kuan Yew was always careful to state support for the Khmer people’s right to self-determination, rather than for any particular government, and was frequently publicly disparaging of groups or individuals, describing the Khmer Rouge leadership in general as ‘insane’ and Hun Sen in particular as ‘utterly merciless and lacking in humane feelings’.25

The overall result was that Singapore’s diplomatic efforts both within ASEAN and internationally helped to intensify lukewarm foreign opposition to Vietnam’s expansionism. This combined with the lack of military success and the collapse of the Soviet Union ensured that by 1991 Bilahari Kausikan could conclude that there was ‘no longer a need for Singapore to take an activist posture on the Cambodian issue. Our approach now is to extricate ourselves. For the last year, we have in fact begun a process of diplomatic disengagement from the Cambodian issue. In Indochina, our priority is now to develop bilateral relations with Vietnam.’26

Just as Singapore had been willing to work for the benefit of a regime that its leaders disliked intensely, it was also more than happy to forge mutually beneficial connections with an old adversary – Vietnam – once its ability to threaten national security had been eliminated.

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