Highlights of President Hu Jin Tao's inspection of PLA HK Garrison, 29-06-2012

Originally Posted by Lion

Then mass killing will occurs. Becos any civilian can be a militant. Then the bomber will bomb any infrastructure it seen.

BUT knowing that if you decide to invade, in the end, all you get is ruin and destruction, what you get is not an asset but rather a liability when you taken it by force, why would anyone want to invade it?

This strategy is brilliant, it especially works well for small nations, I think it would work even better for Singapore in theory. It is almost like Mao's strategy, drawing the enemy in and drain their resource dry.

The main point is to make it "expensive" to invade, and a respectable armed forces will make the other side think real hard when they incline to bend you to their will. When you look back at Singapore's history you'd find her relationships with Malaysia and Indonesia ain't sunshine and bunnies for almost the whole length of its existence...the strength of SAF helps to keep exchanges between nations verbal, otherwise they'd have dared something like Iraq against Kuwait.

Having US backing is nice, but Singaporean saw first hand how "reliable" that can be - painful lessons in WW2 was never forgotten in Singapore.

I agree on your point that the SAF can provide certain "leverage" on a diplomatic level but the point I want to tell is that the SAF cannot provide deterrence against foreign army.

The SAF does provide certain leverage, but it's the 7th fleets/ US that will deter the enemy.

Originally Posted by MwRYum

The main point is to make it "expensive" to invade, and a respectable armed forces will make the other side think real hard when they incline to bend you to their will. When you look back at Singapore's history you'd find her relationships with Malaysia and Indonesia ain't sunshine and bunnies for almost the whole length of its existence...the strength of SAF helps to keep exchanges between nations verbal, otherwise they'd have dared something like Iraq against Kuwait.

Having US backing is nice, but Singaporean saw first hand how "reliable" that can be - painful lessons in WW2 was never forgotten in Singapore.

.....especially when you consider that Malaysia and Indonesia are sort of 'allies' of the US as well. Singapore would be wise to not fully depend on the US for protection if or when doo doo hits the fan.
Due to space restrictions a lot of their assets, especially planes and tanks are base in Australia and the US. I think there is a tactical component to it as well especially when it comes to the aircrafts.