Lesson 5: Why should Singapore not be complacent?

As Singapore's economy grew from 3rd world to 1st, I feel it is important that Singaporeans are not complacent and maintain a close relationship with China. Complacency makes one satisfied with mediocrity, possessing no real aspirations to do and be more. This is dangerous as Singaporeans who are complacent would think too highly of themselves and not value the relationship with China.

Singapore's economic growth was due to maintaining good relationship with other countries and making trades with them. Since China has the 2nd largest economy in the world, it is very important to stay close to China to import cheap goods from them, repackage, then export to other countries such as USA. We need to understand that no matter how Singapore's economy grows, China will still be stronger and more powerful than us. Thus, as a small country, we still need to rely on China to prosper. On a side note, Singapore also does not have the ability to betray China, because China can easily suppress us the moment we turn our backs. It is hard to survive without maintaining close relationships with big countries like China, however, China can definitely continue to prosper without us.

"Relations between Singapore and major powers like China should not be seen as a zero-sum game, and Singapore welcomes a rising China," said Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in Parliament on Monday, January 9.

Indeed, we should continue staying friendly towards China, especially because it is a really powerful country, in terms of size, natural resources, manpower, military power, economy and many more. If Singapore upsets China, we would no longer be able to benefit from our tradings with them. China might even influence other countries to break relations with Singapore, resulting in the neighboring big powers being against us, which is our great loss. Especially now that Singapore-China relationship is unstable due to a series of events, for example the South China Sea dispute, Singapore should all the more be on China's good side.

In conclusion, I feel that it is important that Singaporeans are not complacent and maintain a close relationship with China, whether Singapore is a 1st world country or not.

Source(s):
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-china-relations-not-a-zero-sum-game-says-foreign/3424732.html