http://ahmadintaiwan.blogspot.sg/2007/05/how-long-more-can-starlight-still-shine.html
The Taiwanese military fighter accident that killed two
Singapore servicemen who were training in Taiwan, has forced
Singapore to officially acknowledge for the first time the
existence of the "Starlight program". This accident may not
necessarily affect the continued existence of the "Starlight
program", but Taiwan-Singapore relations, which has gone
increasingly downhill these past few years, is really the question
worth noting.
Due to Singapore's limited geographical size, there is no space
large enough for military exercises, hence the need for
co-operation with allied countries for training agreements. Thanks
to the close friendship between former Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Kuan Yew and the late Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo, both
countries signed the agreement for the Starlight program in 1975,
after which Singapore began to dispatch servicemen to Taiwan for
training.
Military training agreements are different from normal bilateral
cooperation, because national defense is the lifeline of a
country's survival, and troop equipment, engagement plans and
operational capability are of the utmost national security and
obviously cannot be leaked. Allowing foreign troops to train with
local forces exposes much of the internal workings to them, and
this cannot be achieved without a certain degree of mutual trust.
As a result, the Starlight program remains the best testimony of
the relationship between Taiwan and Singapore.
Bilateral ties were really quite good in the past, as Lee Kuan
Yew enjoyed the scenery of the Sun Moon Lake and A-Li Shan, and
visited Taiwan on vacation every year, often in the company of
Chiang Ching-kuo. After observing Lee Kuan Yew chatting with the
locals in Hokkien, Chiang lamented his own inability to talk to
converse with the locals, with Lee even exclaiming "I'm also a
Taiwanese".
After Lee Teng-hui succeeded as president, he originally
continued friendly relations with Lee Kuan Yew, making his first
official foreign visit to Singapore. But due to Lee Teng-hui's
criticism of Lee Kuan Yew's "Asian-style democracy" , leaving Lee
Kuan Yew frothing at the mouth, the rift between the two Lees being
to widen from that point on, with Lee Kuan Yew not returning to
Taiwan on vacation for several years. But from a wider perspective,
the two Lees represented two different models of Confucian cultural
development. Lee Teng-hui professed to have founded democratic
reform Taiwan, and Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is the successful
example of the patriarchal model. Lee Teng-hui felt that the
significance of his democratic achievements surpassed that of Lee
Kuan Yew, but of course Lee Kuan Yew begged to differ.
Once the seeds of discord were sown, ties were difficult to
mend, especially when the "two Lees" were known for their
temperament and pride. Afterwards to make matters worse, Lee
Teng-hui's visit to the US ignited cross-strait tensions with
China, which Lee Kuan Yew criticized repeatedly on Taiwan's
actions. Of course, Lee Teng-hui was not known for accepting such
face-on criticism, and this led to a further deterioration of
ties.
The foreign media eloquently described Lee Kuan Yew as "a fish
too big for its pond". Indeed, to a big fish like Lee Kuan Yew, a
small pond like Singapore was not big enough to contain his
political aspirations. Hence he hoped to play a bigger role in the
international arena, including cross-strait relations and China's
development.
He focused on the practical side, and felt that China's rise
cannot be taken lightly, and cross-straits peace must be
maintained. As a result, he disagreed with Taiwan taking a radical
stance and standing for independence in defiance of the Chinese
Communist Party, which obviously fell on deaf ears with the
Taiwanese government.
The national interests of Taiwan and Singapore are certainly
different, and it is difficult for the outsider to understand the
long-term suppression of pride, the indignity and fear of security
constantly being threatened. But Taiwan's reading and handling of
the international situation is still at odds with international
society, causing the country to distance itself with the rest of
the world.
But Taiwan is still a very suitable military training location,
and therefore although Singapore continues to sign training
agreements with other countries, Taiwan-Singapore ties continue to
turn cold, but the Starlight program still manages to hang on. The
thing is, it may be quite impossible for the time being for Taiwan
and Singapore to recover their former close relationship.
