Singapores New Hedging Strategy in the Post-epidemic Era

Abstract

Singapore has pursued "pragmatism" in the diplomatic area since its founding. To diplomacy with the great powers, especially vis--vis a rising China, Singapore chooses a strategy called 'hedging,' which represents neutrality between pure-power rejection and pure power acceptance. The successful implementation of a hedging strategy depends on certain conditions. In the case of the outbreak of full-scale competition among big countries, hedging will become challenging to sustain. The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought complex changes to the world pattern; at the same time, the rise of China and the intensification of competition between China and the United States also make Singapore's hedging policy must be constantly adjusted with the changes to global change. This paper attempts to analyze the current situation of Singapore's hedging policy from the macro and micro dimensions by sorting out the stage changes of Singapore's hedging policy and exploring the new adjustment of Singapore's China policy in the post-epidemic era.