SG behaves the way it does because China is not making them choose.
SG feels it can enjoy the benefits of good relations with China and be a spearhead of U.S. imperialism simultaneously. PRC needs a more muscular approach with stray dogs. It’s time China makes them choose.
Chinese netizens’ negative perception of Singapore largely stems from one core issue:
Singapore’s leadership sided with Japan and criticized China for remembering history after Japan provoked China on the Taiwan question.
This is why Chinese netizens’ contempt toward Singapore runs so deep — sometimes even deeper than their contempt toward open adversaries.
To many Chinese people, Singapore’s behavior represents a particular kind of betrayal.
As an ethnic Chinese-majority country, Singapore should have a natural understanding of the trauma Japan inflicted on the Chinese people — including the brutal Japanese occupation of Singapore itself, such as the Sook Ching massacre.
Instead, Singapore’s leadership downplays or sidesteps Japanese historical aggression, cozies up to Japan strategically, and then has the audacity to lecture China to “move on” from history.
That crosses several Chinese red lines at once:
Historical memory.
Ethnic and civilizational loyalty.
Dignity.
Backbone.
In the eyes of many Chinese netizens, Singapore has chosen self-colonization for survival and geopolitical positioning.
It willingly distances itself from mainland China, aligns with former colonizers and their allies, suppresses its own historical memory, and still benefits from being ethnically Chinese whenever convenient.
That is why Chinese netizens so often describe Singapore’s political class as “殖物” — self-colonized creatures of empire.
To them, Singapore is no longer seen as a genuine overseas Chinese community with historical memory.
It is seen as a traitorous outpost that has internalized the worldview of its former and current masters.
This is also why Chinese netizens’ criticism of Singapore often feels more personal and venomous than their criticism of many other countries.
For many Chinese people, betraying one’s own blood, memory, and historical suffering is worse than being an external enemy.
It is seen as a profound moral and civilizational failure.