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U.S. and Singapore Commit to a Better Future
Singapore is a “true partner” to the United States, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press availability with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan:
“For six decades now the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Singapore, rooted in respect for the rules-based international order, has helped strengthen peace and stability in the region and around the world.”
Secretary Blinken praised Singapore’s efforts along with ASEAN to seek a peaceful resolution in Burma, where “the military’s coup and the brutal crackdown continues to harm civilians, to deprive them of their right to choose their own path, and threatens regional stability.”
“It’s very important that we continue, all of us, to sustain the appropriate pressure on the junta and look for ways to engage the opposition in Burma and find every possible avenue to advance Burma’s return to their democratic path, to an end to the violence, the freedom of people who’ve been unjustly imprisoned,” he said.
In addition, the United States welcomes Singapore’s partnership in “maintaining the necessary economic pressure” on perpetrators of these crimes in Burma, said Secretary Blinken. Singapore has also joined the United States in sanctioning Russia for their war of aggression against Ukraine.
“Our two countries are also seizing new opportunities to work together from space and cyber to supply chain resiliency to clean energy,” said Secretary Blinken. These include the Green Shipping Challenge, under which Singapore committed to work with the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach to upgrade their digital infrastructure and reduce emissions.
The United States and Singapore expanded their climate change partnership, which includes “new and enhanced areas of cooperation from reducing deforestation to encouraging energy-efficient buildings.” The United States is also working with ASEAN to advance clean energy across Southeast Asia, and specifically help Singapore reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Our friends in Singapore,” said Secretary Blinken, “are essential to realizing what is a shared vision for a free and open, a prosperous, a secure, connected, a resilient Indo-Pacific, where people, where goods, where ideas can travel freely, where rules are applied fairly and transparently.”