SCENESETTER FOR YOUR VISIT TO SINGAPORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 003538

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM AMBASSADOR HERBOLD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON ETRD SN
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR YOUR VISIT TO SINGAPORE

Classified By: Patricia L. Herbold. Reasons 1.4 (c)(d)


1. (C) Mr. President, I warmly welcome your November 16-17
visit to Singapore. The U.S.-Singapore bilateral
relationship is at an historic high point. Your visit and
the major policy address you will deliver here signal the
importance we attach to ties with both Singapore and the
broader Southeast Asia region. Your visit also offers an
opportunity to:

-- reinforce our strong security and economic ties with
Singapore,
-- underscore with interlocutors our engagement in and
commitment to Southeast Asia,
-- exchange perspectives with a close regional strategic
partner, and
-- accelerate progress toward greater bilateral law
enforcement and intelligence cooperation.

Strategic Partners, not Allies
--------------


2. (SBU) Our excellent relationship with Singapore is founded
on a convergence of views on key strategic issues and on
substantial trade and investment ties. With its acute sense
of vulnerability, Singapore views a strong U.S. diplomatic,
military, and economic presence in the region as essential to
its own and the region's peace and prosperity. Singapore
pursued both our 2004 Free Trade Agreement and our 2005
Strategic Framework Agreement in part to anchor us in the
region.


3. (C) Singapore is a valuable logistics hub for U.S. forces,
supports Coalition forces in Iraq, and is finalizing plans to
support a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan.
However, Singapore worries about sensitivities in its
Muslim-majority neighborhood and seeks to undertake such
activities with a minimal profile. Singapore is not a treaty
ally. Our military leases its facilities here; there are
"places, not bases" on the island.

Regional Issues
--------------


4. (SBU) Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, like his father
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, is a keen observer and will
welcome a discussion of key regional developments: the
resurgence of China and India, North Korea's nuclear
brinkmanship, and relations with the Muslim world. PM Lee
may note that China's astute diplomacy is winning it friends
in the region; he recently returned from a trip to China to
commemorate 15 years of ties between the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.


5. (C) Singapore strongly condemned North Korea's nuclear
test, which it sees as a serious threat to regional
stability. It helped track and took steps to deny services
to the first suspect North Korean ship to pass through the
Strait of Singapore following UN Security Council Resolution

1718. Prime Minister Lee sees success in Iraq and the
broader Middle East as an imperative - not just to bring
peace to that region but also to deflate extremists in
Southeast Asia. Singapore welcomes recent initiatives to
reinvigorate U.S. ties to ASEAN as reassurance that we will
remain robustly engaged in the region.

Law Enforcement and Terrorism
--------------


6. (C) We work with Singapore on a broad range of law
enforcement issues. However, our cooperation should be
better, given our shared goals and Singapore's highly
developed economy and status as a regional financial center.
Singapore's reluctance to share information, especially
financial data, stems from its stringent bank secrecy laws
and highly restrictive Official Secrets Act.


7. (C) Singapore worries deeply about a domestic terrorist
attack, due to the potential consequences for the economy and
race relations in this multi-ethnic society. Singapore is a
reliable and highly capable partner in the Global War on

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Terrorism. It is frequently the first in the region to adopt
our CT initiatives. While Singapore is eager to receive U.S.
intelligence, it can be slow to share information when it
does not see a direct benefit to itself.

Domestic Scene
--------------


8. (SBU) The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has held
power since 1959 and won another landslide victory in the May
parliamentary elections. It has an enviable record of
delivering peace and prosperity for over four decades and
enjoys broad popular support. At the same time, the PAP
regularly resorts to hardball tactics to cripple the
opposition and uses defamation suits and a web of legislation
to restrict political speech and freedom of assembly.
Fundamental change toward a more democratic system is
unlikely until the current generation of leaders passes from
the scene.

Speaking to the Region
--------------


9. (C) Singapore's relations with its Malay-Muslim majority
neighbors can be testy. The focus of your remarks on
big-picture, upbeat and future-oriented themes involving our
partnership with Asia will resonate well in Singapore and
throughout the region. This focus will ensure your message
is not filtered through regional perceptions of Singapore and
the differences between Singapore and its neighbors on race,
religion and confronting extremism. Delivering your remarks
from a world class educational institution in the center of
Southeast Asia will underscore that the region matters, and
that we intend to be part of its future. That is always
music to regional ears.
HERBOLD