CNA – Singapore has not sold military weapons to Myanmar for a very long time and has effected a ban on the sale of arms there, said Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan in Parliament yesterday.
The minister was replying to a question from Member of Parliament (MP) Dennis Tap on recent assertions in the report of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar which stated that Singapore functions as a “strategic transit point for potentially significant volumes of items” including raw materials that contribute towards military production by the Myanmar military.
Tan asked whether the authorities checked Singapore companies, including those implicated by the report, to ensure compliance with prohibitions on the transfer of arms.
In response to the report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on January 18 that Singapore does not authorise the transfer of arms or items with potential military application to Myanmar. The ministry noted that many assertions pertaining to Singapore relate to economic activities predating the February 2021 military coup.
The report, released on January 16, identified Singapore among other countries which supposedly host companies that supply material to a Myanmar state-owned entity producing military weapons.
Myanmar’s army or junta seized power in February 2021 and the country has seen violence between soldiers and anti-coup rebels since.
