In an essay published in the newly launched (Re)Defining Singapore, Bilahari Kausikan, an ex-permanent secretary at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, argued that the relationship between the city state and China was unique in light of it being the only country outside Greater China with a majority-Chinese population.

This meant Singapore’s relations with Beijing were not just foreign policy matters but struck “at the heart of Singapore’s domestic politics engaging potentially existential issues”, Kausikan wrote.

“Much as we want ‘friendly’ relations with China, this is a red line that we cannot allow China to cross, even if it causes periodic strains in the relationship,” he said.

“To acquiesce in the subordination of Singapore’s interests to China’s interests for expediency or merely to avoid trouble, risks the imposition, through a gradual process of almost imperceptible steps, of a Chinese identity on multiracial Singapore.”

About three-quarters of Singapore’s resident population is Chinese, followed by Malays at 13.5 per cent, Indians at 9 per cent and other ethnicities making up the remainder.