‘Foreign policy now has domestic salience’: Vivian Balakrishnan on a decade of representing Singapore

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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan is one of Singapore’s longest-serving foreign ministers.

ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

Summary

• Foreign Minister Balakrishnan observes foreign policy now has domestic salience, requiring internal alignment due to Singapores multiracial makeup amidst global conflicts.
• Singapores foreign policy in Gaza is guided by maintaining unity, protecting its security, and upholding international law.
• Singapore focuses on predictable, principled foreign policy based on national interests, treating all nations equally, including the US and China.

AI generated

SINGAPORE – Of late, Singapore’s Foreign Minister has been directing much of his diplomatic energies to a different audience – those at home.

While his main focus is to represent the Republic’s interests abroad, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has also spent “hundreds of sessions” – he’s lost count – explaining Singapore’s foreign policy to Singaporeans. In the House, more MPs are rising to query his ministry’s policies, whether during the annual Budget debate or the delivery of ministerial statements.

“In the past, I would have had very few questions in Parliament,” says Dr Balakrishnan. “(But) today, yesterday, or the last month, you can be on the front lines in Parliament, which means foreign policy now has domestic salience.”

It reflects how a certain emphasis in his work has, perhaps counterintuitively, shifted over the past decade. As the world becomes a more troubled one, “a lot of our diplomacy is focused domestically”.

“Because of our multiracial, multi-religious make-up, the truth is, when crises or conflicts break out in the world, it is very easy for us to view them through different lenses. And it is important