19 September 2019
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Defending Singapore against Foreign Interference
Defending Singapore against Foreign Interference
Foreign interference is a form of political warfare — coercive means short of conventional war — that lies in the continuum between diplomacy and aggression. It is an application of soft force that entails a foreign state using its influence to affect the politics and policies of the target state covertly.
A foreign state with hostile intent would undermine the sovereignty of the target state — without violating its physical territory — by infiltrating its national institutions and people. The desired outcomes of the foreign state are political and economic gains at the expense of the target state.
… Muhammad Faizal Abdul Rahman is a Research Fellow with the Centre of Excellence for National Security, a unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He previously worked in the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Singapore Police Force and the National Security Coordination Secretariat. This piece first appeared in RSIS Commentary.
CENS / Online
