ABSTRACT
Economic diplomacy is meant to augment domestic capital and industry. It is a major source of investment and employment in Singapore. Defence diplomacy derives from a different philosophical motivation. Whereas economic diplomacy is meant to enhance viability, defence diplomacy is essentially a defensive enterprise. Trade and economic policies, with rare exceptions, are decoupled from foreign and defence policies. Such a decoupling was a central tenet of the People's Action Party government's early declaration on trade policies in the immediate post-independence period. The starting point for the discussion on Singapore's economic diplomacy, given the country's peculiarities, is its reliance on the international system for trade and investments. The Trade and Development Board and the Economic Development Board are specifically tasked to solicit investments from abroad. The economic turmoil and political instability arising from the crisis lost Singapore not only good will and trade opportunities but also led to significant degradation of its own investments in these countries, especially Indonesia.
