Recently, the Secretary of the United States of the Navy said that the United States wants to rebuild the First Fleet and is most likely to deploy it in Singapore. In response, the Ministry of Defense of Singapore responded: “No relevant discussions have been held with the United States”, while Singaporean scholars said: “Impossible”.
On November 17th local time, Secretary of the United States Navy Kenneth Brethwaite said at a seminar that the United States was considering rebuilding the First Fleet and deploying it at the junction of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. He made it clear that the most likely location to be deployed after the reconstruction of the First Fleet was Singapore.
The Ministry of Defense of Singapore issued a short statement through the official website on the evening of November 18 local time.
The statement said that under the agreement reached in 2012, Singapore agreed to rotate the deployment of up to four coastal battleships in the United States. This agreement is still in force. The U.S. Department of Defense did not request the deployment of additional ships in Singapore, and Singapore did not hold relevant discussions with the United States.
Screenshot of the statement of the Ministry of Defense of Singapore
U.S. media believe that although Singapore is not an ally of the United States, military cooperation between the two countries has begun since 1990. At present, U.S. naval vessels can not only dock at the Singapore Changi Naval Base, but also carry out naval maintenance and other work at the base. Next, the United States can renovate and expand the Changi base.
However, Singaporean scholars point out that the deployment of the fleet means that the United States will permanently station troops in Singapore, and Singapore has always resisted the establishment of a formal military alliance with the United States. For Singapore, the losses of allowing the U.S. military to build permanent bases far outweigh the benefits. Therefore, the establishment of the First Fleet in Singapore “almost Impossible”.
