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Singapore, Brunei, and other Southeast Asian countries have deep ties with China, and they are at the forefront of the world in economic and trade cooperation with China.
This kind of relationship is not only at the national level, but also at the blood level.
They have a sense of kinship and cultural identity with Chinese mainland, and even many of their leaders are from China.
Among these countries, Brunei and Singapore are the richest in Southeast Asia.
Their words and deeds are influencing the attitude of the entire Southeast Asian countries toward China, and the mainland also attaches great importance to exchanges and contacts with these countries.
In Singapore, 75% of the population is Chinese, while Brunei is relatively low, with only about 10% of the population being Chinese.
It stands to reason that more Chinese Singaporeans should be more pro-China, but in fact it is the complete opposite.
Why countries with a large number of Chinese have a less friendly attitude towards China than countries with fewer Chinese, and what is the logic behind the different attitudes of Singapore and Brunei towards China?
1. A small country, a big business Singapore
Located on the Strait of Malacca, Singapore is a country that could not be smaller, the whole city is a country, but it is the only developed country in Southeast Asia.
Singapore's national history is not long, but every step of its development has been full of ups and downs and hardships, and it has been constantly abandoned by Malaysia, and finally has no choice but to embark on the road to independence.
Don't look at Singapore's small size, their economic development level is not bad at all, Singapore's pension system, HDB system, license plate limit system have given the mainland a lot of inspiration.
Originally a small island in the rainforest, not much attention was paid to it until the arrival of British colonists who discovered the strategic value of the Strait of Malacca.
The small island of Singapore has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities, with groups of people migrating to start living, and cargo ships docking here to provide the first pot of gold for Singapore's development.
Later, Singapore fell to the Japanese and then recovered Singapore, seeking to merge with Malaysia.
This period of history has witnessed the difficult development of Singapore, and under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore has gradually developed through institutional innovation and the introduction of foreign investment.
Singapore is a small country, and the country's ability to deal with risks is so fragile that the country's tolerance for error is so low that it has little room for the leadership to make any bad decisions.
It is precisely because they attach great importance to every development opportunity that Singapore has achieved rapid economic take-off in the 7th and 80th centuries and has become the "Asian Tigers".
Ethnic tensions also exist in Singapore, where the majority of Chinese are the majority, and the rest are Malays, Indians and other races.
In the Chinese-led world, Singapore's cooperation with China is going very smoothly, and the mainland's economic development has been helped by Singapore.
However, on the one hand, it has shown active cooperation with China, and on the other hand, it has become very close to Western countries and has joined forces to deal with China and the mainland.
Second, Singapore's choice
In the final analysis, Singapore's economic status determines Singapore's contradictory attitude toward China.
Singapore's economic development is entirely dependent on shipping in the Strait of Malacca, where ships from the north and south dock to carry out cargo transit and processing, and to develop a modern financial and service industry, as well as a port and oil refining industry.
Although such an economic development model can lead to rapid economic development, it is very fragile, completely dependent on the international market, and needs to be protected.
With its small economic hinterland and small population to raise an army, Singapore is particularly dependent on the United States for security.
At the same time, it needs a reliable economic partner to cooperate with for a long time, so that Singapore can have a steady stream of orders coming in, and Singapore can be sandwiched between China and the United States.
No matter how many Chinese there are in Singapore, as long as it is in such a state of economic development, it has to make seemingly contradictory approaches to China.
In addition, from the perspective of Singapore's history, it is not a single Chinese world, it has experienced colonization by two countries, Britain and Japan.
The proximity to Malaysia has made the local history and culture heavily influenced by Malaysia and Indonesia, and engaging in international trade has made Singapore a "crossroads of the world".
It's a multicultural world. When making policy decisions, the Singapore authorities should not only consider the issue of relations with China, but also take into account other aspects.
During World War II, independence in the 60s, and the economic crisis in Southeast Asia in the 90s, Singapore was facing an existential moment.
For emotional reasons, they hoped that the Chinese side would stand up and help them out of the crisis, but China was also too busy to take care of itself at that time.
Even if China was able to deal with it in the 90s, the crisis in Hong Kong was more important than in Singapore.
Therefore, the combination of these factors has led Singapore to make this contradictory choice, hovering between pro-China and anti-China.
3. "The Kingdom of Borneo" Brunei
Located on the northern shore of Malaysian Borneo, Brunei is a small country through and through, like Singapore, although Brunei is slightly larger than Singapore.
Brunei is a monarchy and a religious state, which is very different from Singapore, which is rich and low-key in the whole of Southeast Asia.
Outside of the Gulf countries, Brunei is one of the few countries that relies on resources to make the whole country rich.
I have to say that the country of Brunei is simply God's food, so that their whole country is guarded in the place where Southeast Asia's oil and gas are concentrated.
Brunei has had close ties with Chinese mainland in ancient times, with records of exchanges with the mainland since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and during the Sui and Tang dynasties, as well as Japan, it also sent huge missions to visit.
During the reign of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the king of Brunei personally led a delegation to visit China, but unfortunately died in Nanjing due to illness, which became a witness to the friendship between China and Brunei.
In modern times, Brunei, like Singapore, was a colony of Spain, Britain and Japan.
After Japan's unconditional surrender, Brunei became a British colony and did not declare independence until the 80s.
After all, Brunei has not worried about survival since the beginning of independence, and only Singapore is struggling to move forward for the development of the country.
Brunei is very similar to the Gulf countries of Kuwait and Qatar, with a superior geographical location, a large amount of oil and gas, and a small country and a small population.
There is no burden of development at all, as long as you don't squander it at will, you can make a good life for the people of your country, and as an Islamic country, Brunei is extraordinarily low-key.
Up to now, Brunei has maintained friendly relations with China, and the two countries have in-depth and close cooperation in many fields.
4. Pro-China Brunei
It is not difficult to find from the development process of Brunei that the whole of Brunei is not burdened with the pressure of development at all, which allows Brunei to make its own decisions on its external relations.
China has had close ties with Brunei since ancient times, and it can be said that when the King of Brunei visited the Ming Dynasty, Singapore was still a small island that no one cared about.
Brunei does not have to be like Singapore, in a balanced diplomacy between the two superpowers, China and the United States.
Since Brunei is an Islamic country and is not as culturally diverse as Singapore, the historical burden of Western invasions is not heavy.
The number of Chinese is not very large, only about 10%, and the rest are mainly Malays and local indigenous peoples.
Therefore, Brunei does not have to think as much about factors as Singapore does when seeking development cooperation. Even though Brunei has experienced events such as the economic crisis in Southeast Asia, it has not affected their lifeblood by guarding a large amount of oil and gas resources.
Now Brunei and China have signed cooperation agreements in various fields, and even Royal Brunei Airlines has opened a route from Bandar Seri Begawan to Shanghai.
There are no U.S. troops stationed on Brunei's territory, and Brunei has always supported China's plan on some international hot issues and has not opposed China too many times.
From the attitude of the international community, it is not difficult to find that Brunei, a low-key and friendly country, is completely different from Singapore.
There are many overseas countries with a high proportion of Chinese, and the high proportion of Chinese people does not mean that these countries will completely stand with China.
It is the economic status that plays an influential role in determining the relationship between countries, even though Singapore's national leadership is made up of Chinese.
They also have their own countries, and they will also take their own interests as the starting point and end point of decision-making.
We should also understand these countries, because after all, we have no right to demand that they must be friendly to China, but they can feel what the mainland is doing as time goes by.
epilogue
With the increase in the number of overseas Chinese, more and more people of Chinese descent can be seen in the national decision-making circles.
They may play a constructive role in the issue of China because of their kinship.
However, countries still rely on long-term interests to maintain each other, and the role of considering blood relations alone still has little effect.
This can be understood from the attitude of Singapore and Brunei towards China, and we are also grateful to countries that are friendly to China.
With China's rising rise, more and more countries will pay attention to China's international status and the voice of their own ethnic Chinese communities, and they will use their wisdom to make diplomatic choices.
As long as we do our own affairs in a pragmatic manner and handle our own problems well, more countries will naturally be friendly to China.
In the face of the two different attitudes of Singapore and Brunei, I don't know what everyone thinks.
Well, today's article is shared here, if you still have different views and suggestions, please leave a message in the comment area, thank you for reading, and we'll see you next time.