Singapore

Singapore, city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, about 85 miles (137 kilometres) north of the Equator. It consists of the diamond-shaped Singapore Island and some 60 small islets; the main island occupies all but about 18 square miles of this combined area. The main island is separated from Peninsular Malaysia to the north by Johor Strait, a narrow channel crossed by a road and rail causeway that is more than half a mile long. The southern limits of the state run through Singapore Strait, where outliers of the Riau-Lingga Archipelago—which forms a part of Indonesia—extend to within 10 miles of the main island.


Singapore



Take a tour of Singapore, a city with a multicultural heritage     See all videos for this article

A sculpture of the Merlion, Singapore.

Singapore is the largest port in Southeast Asia and one of the busiest in the world. It owes its growth and prosperity to its focal position at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, where it dominates the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. Once a British colony and now a member of the Commonwealth, Singapore first joined the Federation of Malaysia on its formation in 1963 but seceded to become an independent state on August 9, 1965.     READ MORE...

Surprising China

China Freaked Out: The Navy Surfaced 3 Missile Submarines Simultaneously


What history has shown in recent decades is that military posturing has become an integral part of how countries deal with one another.

According to Forrest Morgan, an analyst for the RAND Corporation, such actions all point to what is known as “crisis stability”—the “building and posturing forces in ways that allow a state, if confronted, to avoid war without backing down.”

Showcasing Might in Pacific
One particular example Morgan sheds light on is when the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class SSGNs surfaced in the Pacific more than a decade ago.

“In July 2010, three SSGNs surfaced nearly simultaneously in Western Pacific and Indian Ocean waters, allegedly to signal U.S. displeasure over Chinese missile tests in the East China Sea,” he writes.

This caught the attention of plenty of local reporters as well.

“The appearance of the USS Michigan in Pusan, South Korea, the USS Ohio in Subic Bay, in The Philippines and the USS Florida in the strategic Indian Ocean outpost of Diego Garcia not only reflects the trend of escalating submarine activity in East Asia, but carries another threat as well,” Greg Torode reported for the South China Morning Post.

“Between them, the three submarines can carry four hundred sixty-two Tomahawks, boosting by an estimated 60 percent-plus the potential Tomahawk strike force of the entire Japanese-based Seventh Fleet—the core projection of U.S. military power in East Asia. One veteran Asian military attaché, who keeps close ties with both Chinese and U.S. forces, noted that four hundred sixty-odd Tomahawks is a huge amount of potential firepower in anybody’s language,” he continued.

The reporter concluded that “it is another sign that the U.S. is determined to not just maintain its military dominance in Asia, but to be seen doing so—that is a message for Beijing and for everybody else, whether you are a U.S. ally or a nation sitting on the fence.  READ MORE...