Timing of Lee’s Visit Proves Relations Remain Resilient

Posted by AsiaViews | Sep 24, 2017 | 0 |

CHINA

China Daily

Sept 21, 2017

To everyone concerned about the recent vicissitudes in China-Singapore relations, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s ongoing China visit, his first state visit since August 2013, is welcome, and it is being perceived as a sign that the soured bilateral ties are recovering.

After months of unease in their relations, the timing alone－before Lee’s planned visit to the United States and the Communist Party of China’s upcoming national congress－has bestowed Lee’s visit with unusual symbolism, with many reading it as Singapore “repositioning” itself and recalibrating its strategic compass.

Singapore may have been seeking to try and weigh and balance relations with big countries, but a number of unpleasant episodes over the past year sowed rare discomfort between Beijing and Singapore. These began with Singapore urging China to accept the Manila-initiated international “arbitration” over the South China Sea dispute, which Beijing rejected as being illegal and invalid, and culminated in Lee’s eye-catching absence from the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May.

However, China-Singapore relations are resilient and they are able to weather such vicissitudes, in part due to the special thread of kinship between them－the majority of Singaporeans being of Chinese origin, a bond that determines a natural closeness.

And from a more utilitarian perspective, China is Singapore’s largest trade partner and Singapore is China’s largest source of foreign investment. Singapore has helped China tremendously in its pursuit of development. The joint venture programs Lee is visiting in Xiamen, East China’s Fujian province, are fine examples of their fruitful partnership. And China’s pro-globalization development initiatives, the Belt and Road in particular, will prove more than rewarding to Singapore should it choose to join in.

Singapore holds special significance to Chinese diplomacy not only because of its longstanding role as “middleman” between China and the West, but also because it is the current official coordinator of China-ASEAN relations, and will assume the presidency of ASEAN next year.

Right before coming to China, Lee said if overall relations are good, a steady stream of economic and trade cooperation projects will naturally ensue.

His visit is certainly helping to revive the two sides’ previous strong rapport, and clearing the way for the said stream of mutually beneficial projects.

Yet although not widely reported, the fact is, high-level exchanges between the two sides have never stopped, and that, along with Lee’s exchange of vows with his Chinese hosts to deepen political trust and upgrade economic cooperation, prove the foundations of bilateral ties are still sound and solid.

(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2017-09/21/content_32276748.htm )

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Timing of Lee’s Visit Proves Relations Remain Resilient