BBC Chinese recently reported that China criticized Singapore after the United States announced the deployment of the P-8 reconnaissance aircraft in Singapore. China’s state-owned newspaper warned that Singapore may not want to be over-confident in playing a game between China and the U.S. Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen visited Washington not long ago and called for the continued presence of the U.S. military in the region in order to maintain stability. He explained that the U.S. role is very important to the pacific. China thinks the P-8 reconnaissance aircraft is “obviously against China” and stated that, even if the China-U.S. military race escalates in the future, it should not be in the South China Sea region. Singapore has long been a militarily ally of the United States. The two nations have signed agreements since 1990. Ng Eng Hen signed another defense agreement with the U.S. during his stay in Washington. The new agreement also covers copyright protection and anti-terrorism missions.
Source: BBC Chinese, December 10, 2015
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/12/151210_singapore_south_china_sea