Singapore to halt arms transfers without impeding legitimate trade with Myanmar
Singapore will continue with efforts to prevent the Myanmar junta from accessing military supplies through the Republic while being mindful about not blocking legitimate trade and transactions with Myanmar as that will hurt civilians, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on June 28.
“Legitimate trade and financial links between Singapore and Myanmar are necessary to support the livelihoods of the Myanmar people,” MFA said in a statement.
“We have been very careful to avoid inadvertently causing greater hardship for the Myanmar people.”
The statement came in response to media queries following the release of a report by UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews on June 26.
The report, which lauded the city-state for its decisive action in clamping down on both the export of military materials from Singapore and the facilitation of arms transactions by banks here, called for financial institutions to “terminate or freeze all financial relationships with Myanmar’s state-owned banks” while “(undertaking) enhanced due diligence on all business relationships and transactions related to Myanmar”.
MFA said: “Singapore’s policy is to prohibit the transfer of arms to Myanmar and to not authorise the transfer to Myanmar of dual-use items, which have been assessed to have potential military application and where there is a serious risk they may be used to inflict violence against unarmed civilians.”
It added: “At the same time, it is not the intention of the Singapore Government to block legitimate trade with Myanmar. Special Rapporteur Andrews’ findings underscore the effectiveness of Singapore’s policy, especially through the measures imposed by Singapore financial institutions (FIs).”
The ministry said FIs based here “will not facilitate any transactions that involve the sale and transfer of arms to Myanmar”, and that banks here have been applying enhanced due diligence on transactions involving Myanmar entities and individuals.
It noted that the Monetary Authority of Singapore had published a circular in August 2023 providing banks with additional guidance on the measures they should incorporate to better detect and manage sanctions-related risks.
“Singapore FIs also had success in the deployment of data analytics to better identify risks and apply appropriate risk-mitigation measures, in particular around the detection of front and shell companies being used to potentially evade sanctions,” MFA said.
“We await specific and actionable information from the Special Rapporteur’s Office so that we are able to conduct the necessary checks on the leads provided in his latest report, and ensure that our FIs and companies are taking the necessary measures to address the risks posed.”
Varun Karthik
The Straits Times
Asia News Network
