‘A satisfactory outcome’: Singapore’s PM on Hong Kong’s seizure of military vehicles
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong publicly acknowledges for the first time that matter was between the Lion City and Beijing, rather than HK customs
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said Hong Kong’s decision in January to return nine armoured vehicles it seized in transit from Taiwan months earlier was a “satisfactory outcome” to the diplomatic rift it caused between the Lion City and China.
Lee’s comments in a BBC HardTalk interview that aired Wednesday were the first time a leader from either country had openly acknowledged that the seizure was a matter between Singapore and the central government in Beijing.
Singaporean, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials had previously maintained that the matter was between Singapore and Hong Kong customs – which seized the vehicles on November 23.
Hong Kong’s Commissioner of Customs and Excise Roy Tang Yun-kwong said upon the release of the vehicles on January 23 that they were detained over a suspected breach of local laws governing the import, export and transhipment of strategic commodities.
“I would not say we have major problems. We have had some issues and some incidents. The military vehicles were an incident which happened to both of us and we had to handle it,” Lee said in the BBC interview in Singapore with Stephen Sackur. The news anchor had asked if the saga had hurt the island republic’s ties with China.