Singapore–United Kingdom relations, also referred to as British–Singaporean relations, are the relations between the states of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Both countries are full members of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

and are marked by historical, cultural, institutional and language ties, extensive people-to-people links, aligned security interests, sporting tournaments, and significant trade and investment co-operation.

Country comparison

History

Britain first established a settlement on the island of Singapore in 1819 under

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...

, and took possession of the whole island in 1823. It formally became a British colony in 1824, and remained in British hands (apart from the Japanese occupation of 1941-45) until 1963, when the island was granted its independence. Between 1963-65, Singapore formed part of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The British Armed Forces maintained a presence in Singapore at the request of the founding Prime Minister

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

for stability reasons and to allow for a gradual transition to independence and self-reliance. After the end of the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

and '' Konfrontasi'', the British military gradually withdrew during the 1960s and 1970s, with the infrastructure turned over to the fledgling

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...

. As a result of the long historical relationship,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is one of Singapore's 4 official languages (see

Singapore English Singapore English (SgE, SE, en-SG) (similar and related to British English) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Singapore. In Singapore, English is spoken in two main forms: Singaporean Standard English (indistinguisha ...

Bilateral relations

The United Kingdom co-operates with Singapore on a wide range of international issues. Singapore's non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council (2001/02) further intensified bilateral contacts on key issues affecting international peace and security. The UK and Singapore have also been closely co-operating in the area of counter terrorism and counter proliferation, both politically and operationally.

Defence

Since 1971, the two countries have co-operated militarily through the

Five Power Defence Arrangements The Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) are a series of bilateral defence relationships established by a series of multi-lateral agreements between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, all of which are Commonwe ...

, which involve annual joint exercises with other partners

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The UK has a defence attache in Singapore and a logistics supply depot, known as the

British Defence Singapore Support Unit The British Defence Singapore Support Unit (BDSSU) is a British naval facility located in Sembawang, Singapore. A remnant of a larger naval base, known as HMNB Singapore, the facility provides fuel and other supplies to Royal Navy ships in the r ...

(BDSSU), in

Sembawang Sembawang is a planning area and residential town located in the North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to the south, Yishun to the southeast, Woodlands to the west and the Straits of Jo ...

. In contrast, Singapore has no military attache in their High Commission in London. An EU Centre report suggests that Singapore's defence attache to the UK is located in the Embassy in Paris. A recent news report stated that the UK wished to increase its defence cooperation with Singapore.

Trade and investment

Singapore is the United Kingdom's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, with two thirds of UK exports to this region flowing into Singapore. UK exports of goods only to Singapore in 2010 were valued at £3.29billion, a 15% increase from 2009 while imports of goods from Singapore in 2010 were valued at £3.99billion, an 18% increase from 2009. The top exports of UK goods to Singapore are power generating machinery, beverages and general industrial machinery while the top exported goods from Singapore were organic chemical, power generating machinery and office machines. As of 2009, Singapore was the UK's 11th largest market for services exports. There are few import tariffs from Singapore who supports the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

process fully. Singapore was the first

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

country to commence negotiations with the EU for a bilateral

Free Trade Agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur ...

(FTA). The UK is the fourth largest foreign investor in Singapore with cumulative stock of £23.5 billion at end 2009. There are over 31,000 British nationals and some 700 British companies in Singapore. Many of the major long-term British investors have increased their footprint in Singapore recently, including Barclays, Dyson, HSBC, Rolls-Royce, Shell and Standard Chartered. There has also been a significant increase in the number of British SMEs entering the market and British universities establishing

collaborative partnerships Collaborative partnerships are agreements and actions made by consenting organizations to share resources to accomplish a mutual goal. Collaborative partnerships rely on participation by at least two parties who agree to share resources, such as ...

with Singapore's educational institutions. The UK attracts over two thirds of all Singaporean investment into the European Union with a cumulative stock of £20.6 billion with financial and insurance services, real estate and ICT being the most significant sectors.

State visits

In 2011, 6 dignitaries from the United Kingdom visited Singapore including

Peter Ricketts Peter Forbes Ricketts, Baron Ricketts, (born 30 September 1952) is a retired British senior diplomat and a life peer. He has sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords since 2016. Ricketts served as chair of the Joint Intelligence Committe ...

, the National Security Advisor in January, Martin Donnelly, BIS Permanent Secretary in February, John Aston, FCO Special Representative for Climate Change in March,

Jeremy Browne Jeremy Richard Browne (born 17 May 1970) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Taunton Deane from 2005 to 2015. He served as both Minister of State for Europe and the Americas and Minister of Stat ...

, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in April,

Liam Fox Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as t ...

, Secretary of State for Defence in June and

The Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was D ...

in September. The two Singaporean dignitaries who visited the United Kingdom in 2011 are Ow Foong Pheng, Permanent Secretary Singapore Ministry of Trade & Industry in September and

Tony Tan Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. He did not seek for a second term as president in 2017 due to a constitutional amendment. ...

, President of Singapore in December. In October 2014, Tony Tan made the first official state visit of a

President of Singapore The president of Singapore is the head of state of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore. The role of the president is to safeguard the Reserves of the Government of Singapore, reserves and the integrity of the Singapore Civil Service, public serv ...

to the United Kingdom and was hosted by Queen Elizabeth and the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

and

Duchess of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

Academic exchanges

Education links between Singapore and the United Kingdom are strong. As of 2011, more than 3,000 Singaporeans were studying in the United Kingdom and the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

estimate that around 80,000 UK qualifications are awarded annually in Singapore through "twinning" programmes. Due to Singapore's membership in the Commonwealth, Singaporean students qualify for scholarships such as the

Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. History The plan was originally proposed b ...

and

Chevening Scholarship The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarship ...

to further their studies in the United Kingdom. Links in the arts are also strong with many British artists and organisations being invited to perform and the established presence of British music examination boards such as

ABRSM The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...

. The British Council has a large presence teaching English to around 20,000 Singaporeans and foreign nationals. Current British Council projects focus on the internationalisation of education, developing young leaders to take action against climate change and the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the arts and creative industries. High Commission of Singapore in London

Resident diplomatic missions

* Singapore has a high commission in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. * United Kingdom has a high commission in

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singapore-United Kingdom relations Bilateral relations of the United Kingdom

Relations of colonizer and former colony Singapore and the Commonwealth of Nations United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations