The Merlion and the Ashoka

SingaporeIndia Strategic Ties

The Merlion and the Ashoka: Singapore–India Strategic Ties examines the historical evolution and future prospects of the strategic and defence ties between these two nations. India, which considers Singapore to be one of its closest partners in Southeast Asia, has offered Singapore unprecedented access to training facilities, including basing equipment on Indian soil. In turn, Singapore has a close defence dialogue at various levels with India and active military cooperation at the tactical and operational levels. How did the two countries attain such an unprecedented level of defence cooperation and what were the challenges they had to overcome? Combining perspectives from policy-makers, academics and military officers, this book examines different aspects surrounding this question. While exploring the future trajectory of Singapore–India relations, it makes recommendations on how to enhance this strategic partnership.

Contents:

• Introduction: The Merlion and the Ashoka (Anit Mukherjee)
• An Ancient Civilisation and a Small City-State: Can Their Strategic Interests Be Aligned? (Peter Ho)
• Restoring the Eastern Anchor: India's Strategic Partnership with Singapore (C Raja Mohan)
• Singapore–India Strategic Relations — Singapore's Perspective (See Chak Mun)
• India–Singapore Defence Cooperation: Exploring Strategic and Functional Compatibilities (Vijay Sakhuja and Gurpreet Khurana)
• Singapore–India Defence Relations Amidst Changing Security Architecture in the Asia-Pacific Region (Bilveer Singh)

Readership: Diplomats, defence officials and military officers in both Singapore and India.
Key Features:

• The first book of its kind which examines strategic and defence cooperation between Singapore and India
• Includes personal narratives from top policy-makers like Peter Ho and See Chak Mun
• A comprehensive review provided by C. Raja Mohan, one of India's leading geopolitical analysts