A country's foreign policy, also called the international
relations policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will
interact with other countries economically, politically, socially
and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will
interact with non-state actors. The aforementioned interaction is
evaluated and monitored in attempts to maximize benefits of
multilateral international cooperation. Foreign policies are
designed to help protect a country's national interests, national
security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. This can
occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or
through exploitation. In International affairs no one is a
permanent friend/permanent enemy. What is permanent is National
Interests of a country.
Many people criticized the foreign policy in s'pore.But it
is seemingly reasonable to some extent. It is because a decade back
and more, Singapore and HK were the only developed
countries in Asia and the rest of our lesser developed
neighbours did trade with us. and it was natural resources
like food and other necessities, if one doesn't count the abundance
of cheap labour for the construction industry. Other than Hong
Kong, singapore had not much competitors in terms of economic
activity But now, these countries like India and China, are
developing their own economies and its no longer just
Singapore that offered a conducive environment for trade and
business. The last few decades, it was true that Singapore was
lesser known in the 1st world except to some large foreign
investors and Multi national companies
As the rest of Asia rose, these investors found cheaper
alternatives to Singapore because it will always be cheaper to set
up bases in developing countries than developed ones.
In short Singapore has large competition now. As a result
instead of directly competing with them, it will be wiser to
work with them and their people. It is a classic business case of
mergers. Merge with the competitors to survive. If u cannot beat
them, joint them.
it could be the reason the current foreign policy was
adopted, to make Singapore more widely known and to merge with the
competition. They are
1) Migrants or Foreign Talents
2) Foreign Investment by Temasek in overseas assets
3) Offshore Banking to lure top money from around the world.