Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SINGAPORE1138
2009-12-01 08:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Singapore
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT HU - SINGAPORE VISIT

Tags:  PREL PGOV APEC CN SN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3757
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHVC
DE RUEHGP #1138/01 3350849
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 010849Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7468
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001138 

SIPDIS

DEPT OF INTERIOR FOR USFWS - S. KOHL
EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA
EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV APEC CN SN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT HU - SINGAPORE VISIT

Classified By: CDA Daniel Shields for Reasons 1.4 (b/d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001138

SIPDIS

DEPT OF INTERIOR FOR USFWS - S. KOHL
EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA
EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV APEC CN SN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT HU - SINGAPORE VISIT

Classified By: CDA Daniel Shields for Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Summary: During the State Visit to Singapore by
Chinese President Hu Jintao, China and Singapore reached four
agreements: the "loan" of two pandas, a tie-up between
Singapore University of Technology and Design and Zhejiang
University, the formalization of civil leadership exchanges,
and the establishment in Singapore of a China Cultural
Center. An MFA contact said the Singapore-China relationship
has moved on to the next level, in which the two sides do not
need to produce deliverables every time they meet. Other
observors were pleased that a potential flap was avoided over
Lee Kuan Yew's controversial (in China) U.S. speech in which
he called for a strong U.S. presence in Asia to balance
China's growing influence. End Summary.

The Deliverables
--------------


2. (C) Chinese President Hu Jintao made a State Visit to
Singapore in connection with his travel to the city-state for
the Asia Pacific Ecnomic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting
in mid-November. The government-influenced Straits Times
newspaper devoted most of its coverage to China's decision to
loan two pandas to Singapore for ten years. Other
deliverables were reportedly: a tie-up between Singapore
University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Zhejiang
University, the formalization of ongoing civil-leadership
exchanges, and the establishment in Singapore of a China
Cultural Center.


3. (C) MFA Northeast Asia Deputy Director Tracy Chan told
Poloff that the relative lack of substantive deliverables
should be taken as a sign that the PRC-Singapore relationship
has matured to the extent that the two sides do not need to
produce deliverables every time they meet. The PRC has been
consistent over the years in its approach to Singapore and
bilateral interactions and exchanges are now regularized to
the point that both sides have a general understanding of
what they hope to gain from the relationship. Contrasting
Singapore-PRC with Singapore-U.S. relations, Chan said China
is like the parent who is always there; for better or worse,

you know what to expect and your attitude toward the parent
is tempered. The United States, on the other hand, is like
the parent who travels too much; whenever that parent gives
the child attention, the kid just laps it up, Chan said.


4. (C) Commenting on Zhejiang-SUTD tie up, Professor Huang
Jing, visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy, noted that SUTD, Singapore's third major (and newest)
university, had also recently signed a cooperation agreement
with MIT. Singapore and the United States would need to take
note, Huang warned, because China will hope to tap into MIT's
expertise. China is keen to gain access to advanced
technologies in the areas of space science, biotech and IT,
all areas which MIT and SUTD will have some expertise, Huang
said.


5. (C) The formalization of existing civil-leader exchanges
simply regularizes an ongoing process whereby a steady stream
of Chinese leaders come to Singapore to learn about good
governance and infrastructure development, Chan said.


6. (C) The PRC will operate the new Chinese cultural center
to be built in Singapore, Chan said. The establishment of
the center is in recognition of the deepening ties between
the two countries and the fact that Singapore recruits an
ever-expanding pool of Chinese to emigrate to Singapore and
"become Singaporean," Chan said.


7. (C) Commenting on the pandas, Chan said Singapore closely
studied the U.S.-China Panda Loan program. Chan said
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) and the China Wildlife
Conservation Association (CWCA) signed a ten-year agreement
that commits the WRS to pay CWCA several hundred thousand
dollars per year for each panda for use in panda habitat
protection and research. Commenting on the controversy
created two years ago when Atlanta and Memphis zoos publicly
complained about the high costs (USD 1,000,000 per panda per
year) those zoos were paying for their pandas, Chan noted
that Singapore negotiated a much better deal, somewhere in
the realm of what the San Diego Zoo recently negotiated
(approximately USD 600,000 per year).

SINGAPORE 00001138 002 OF 002



No Major Hiccup in Relation to LKY Speech
--------------


8. (C) Professor Huang noted that while Chinese netizens
were highly critical of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's speech
at the US-ASEAN Business Council in Washington in October (in
which LKY called for a strong U.S. presence in Asia to
"balance" China's growing influence),there was little
political fallout during President Hu's visit as the PRC
delegation did not make an issue of the speech. Perhaps the
PRC treated Singapore somewhat coldly, Huang said, but the
Chinese were not openly critical of Singapore or LKY. While
the PRC did accept Singapore's offer of a State Visit for
President Hu Jintao, the PRC delegation for the most part
minimized its interaction with the GOS and instead focused on
its interactions with the other major countries attending
APEC, Huang said.

Singapore-Taiwan
--------------


9. (C) The PRC indicated to Singapore that any
Singapore-Taiwan bilats should only be held after APEC, Chan
told Poloff. Singapore tacitly complied with the PRC's
wishes and when Singapore held its bilat with Taiwan's
representative to APEC after APEC officially ended, China
made no critical comments. Chan stressed that this stands in
stark contrast to the years of the Chen administration, when
the PRC sought to isolate Taiwan at every opportunity.

PRC's Long-Term Plans for Singapore
--------------


10. (C) Professor Huang said that although China made clear
to Singapore during the Hu visit that China is more important
to Singapore than vice versa, China still sees the utility of
a positive relationship with Singapore. China is enticed by
Singapore's strategic location along the Straits of Malacca,
Huang said. China views the Straits of Malacca as one of the
three critical straits it must control in time of conflict,
the other two being the Straits of Tsushima (between Japan
and S. Korea) and the Taiwan Strait. Singapore is also the
only Asia-Pacific country (outside of the United States and
Japan) that has the capability to provide logistical support
for a blue-water navy, Huang said. As China develops its
blue water capabilities, it will push hard to learn as much
as it can from Singapore about how to provide logistical
support for such a fleet. Huang suggested that sometime in
the 2015-2020 time-frame, the PRC would likely send its
then-to-be-built aircraft carrier to Singapore for its first
international port visit. The PRC would then likely seek to
formalize access to Changi naval base as a major logistical
port for its fleet.

SHIELDS

Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm