UNDER a new agreement, called the Visiting Forces Agreement, troops from Singapore and China will visit each other, while a mutual logistics support arrangement has also been put in place. The two countries will also have frequent high-level dialogues and large scale military exercises involving all three arms of their militaries. These new collaborations are a top-up to the Agreement on Defence Exchanges and Security Collaboration signed between the two nations in 2008. Promoting stronger military ties with China is also in Singapore's interest, as it takes into account China's rising clout. "Fostering closer ties with the PLA should not be misperceived as at the expense of undermining the longstanding trust and cooperation with the US military.

Source: New Strait Times October 21, 2019 06:33 UTC