Is Beijing trying to discourage Singapore-Taiwan relations by having Hong Kong seize armoured vehicles?
Analysts question if the seizure reflect China’s intolerance to other nations having a relationship with Taiwan
An armed forces team from Singapore was due in Hong Kong last night on a mission to establish why nine of their brand new military vehicles were seized and impounded by customs during their return from Taiwan.
Singapore’s top diplomat in Hong Kong has also become involved in what one military expert said could be a “strategic calculation’’ by Beijing which yesterday reaffirmed its opposition to any sovereign state having official or military ties what it regards as a renegade province.
Watch: What’s going on with the Singaporean military vehicles in Hong Kong
The interception of nine advanced combat vehicles at the Kwai Chung container terminal on Wednesday places fresh scrutiny on four decades of military co-operation between Taiwan and the city state which an extremely unhappy Beijing has tolerated.
The stand-off – in which Hong Kong is playing man in the middle – comes as China adopts and increasingly hostile attitude towards Singapore which has recently had strategic geo-political disagreements with Beijing.
Yesterday afternoon Singapore’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement that an armed forces team was “en-route to Hong Kong to address the security of the equipment”. The nine vehicles are impounded at a customs facility in Tuen Mun.