After joining hands with Australia, Japan and the US, India has strengthen defence ties with Singapore in an attempt to counter China’s increasing presence in South East Asia and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Earlier this week, Singapore allowed India to dock its warships at Changi Naval base. After holding a meeting with Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior ministry officials in New Delhi, Defence Minister of the island nation Dr Ng Eng Hen said that Indian Navy vessels – sailing through the disputed South China Sea or the Andaman Sea – would be allowed to refuel, restock and rearm at the Singaporean naval base.
The Indian minister welcomed the announcement, saying in a statement that it’s a big boost to bilateral defence ties as the Indian Navy would be able to directly engage the Singaporean authorities whenever it wants to use their facilities. Currently, the Indian Navy sends a request to Singapore through the Defence Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry.

Nirmala Sitharaman & Dr Ng Eng Hen

Dr Hen, a surgical oncologist, further announced that the South Asian nation, too, agreed to provide logistics support to the Singaporean vessels operate in Indian waters. He expressed serious concern over the deployment of Chinese Naval ships in the IOR. According to the visiting Singaporean minister, China has triggered a fresh tension by deploying nuclear-powered attack submarines in the region. He explained that Beijing’s move ultimately encourages Washington to send naval forces to Asia. In fact, the Indian Navy is heavily dependent on “friendly” nations, such as the US, for real-time inputs on the movement of Chinese warships and submarines in the IOR.
The Indian defence experts believe that co-operation between India and Singapore will definitely throw a strong military challenge to China. Although the Asian giant has more warships and submarines than India and Singapore, the two countries can counter the Chinese aggression together. Currently, the Singaporean Navy operates state of the art European submarines and warships, which can easily ensure unimpeded trade through waters around the Malacca Straits – one of the biggest shipping lanes in the world.
Experts are of the opinion that the changing geopolitical scenario in Asia will help the US play a bigger role in the continent. Even, the India-Singapore defence co-operation will encourage Japan and Australia to flex muscle in the Asia-Pacific region and to corner China in its backyard in the coming days.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das