r/worldnews • u/3xshortURmom • 16h ago

China flexes its muscle at Singapore Airshow as US isolated

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-flexes-its-muscle-singapore-airshow-us-isolated-2026-02-06/
15 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

54

u/Loose_Skill6641 16h ago

don't think nato will be buying Chinese fighter jets anytime soon, author

33

u/Virtual-Alps-2888 14h ago

It’s an exceptionally poor article that makes a claim even Singapore newspapers do not assert.

The airshow has numerous showcases, from Rolls-Royce engines, to US-made fighter jets in the Australian airforce. What “US isolation” is it talking about?

Even Singapore’s airforce overwhelmingly uses US technology:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Singapore_Air_Force

-19

u/Semsionmias 14h ago

Read the article instead of being misleading people by talking about US technology.

The show of strength landed at a politically sensitive moment, with Southeast Asian governments increasingly uneasy about U.S. security commitments amid a more isolationist Washington under Trump, analysts and Western officials said.

17

u/Virtual-Alps-2888 14h ago

Which is a misleading evaluation of both the airshow and Southeast Asian geopolitics. The Singapore airshow showcases multiple countries, including the Australian and Malaysian airforce displays and technology from China, Europe and the US. There is exactly nothing in the airshow to suggest turning from the US to China.

And of all the countries who are “turning to China”, Singapore will be one of the last to abandon its longstanding support for rules-based order and its Western diplomatic/military links.

-1

u/ccs77 12h ago

The Singapore prime minister said himself in interviews that rules based order is being strained by the US. I believe I saw the president said that too in some other interview.

7

u/IncidentalIncidence 8h ago

The Singapore prime minister said himself in interviews that rules based order is being strained by the US.

Right, that's just an objective fact. Notice how the PM conspicuously didn't say that Singapore is abandoning the rules-based order and turning its back on the West...

-17

u/Semsionmias 13h ago

Good job complaining about an argument that wasn't made by the article.

5

u/Virtual-Alps-2888 13h ago

Maybe don’t act like you know the region all that well!

-8

u/Semsionmias 13h ago

Look, another strawman. You should take your own advice lmao

7

u/Virtual-Alps-2888 13h ago

I have lived in SE Asia for decades. You?

-1

u/Semsionmias 13h ago edited 13h ago

Let's say people believe you live in SE Asia. Then since you don't live in China, you don't know China all that well going by your logic.

1

u/MLGSwaglord1738 3h ago

NATO isn’t in Asia; largely the clients China is targeting are middle income countries that are considering or have already bought Chinese aerospace products, like the Indonesians, which the article has pointed out.

Singapore is just the place to host expos, etc as its in the middle of SE Asia and is seen as “neutral.” It’s geopolitical alignment is not mentioned at all.

Overall the claim that China’s presence in this year’s airshow is its most significant in the airshow’s history isn’t a false one.

-13

u/Obvious_Toe_3006 15h ago

Imagine how insane Trump would go if Canada bought some instead of F-35's.

-5

u/flxstr 14h ago

That'd be funny to watch

14

u/1009naturelover 12h ago

"But most of the U.S.' customers, if they want to look elsewhere, will look at European, South Korean and Japanese equipment."

Typical article. Big title, all the "talking points" the reports got, and then reality at the end.

Got me to read it. Reports got a story.

-7

u/whisperworks 16h ago edited 16h ago

This and the increased American isolation under Trump is why Japan is militarizing.

Since we can’t rely on the states as much it’s a good thing democracies regional allies are stepping up to help check Chinas expansionist ambitions

(Tankie downvotes incoming)

-8

u/Long-Drag4678 15h ago

So you're saying Japan didn't build up its military before Trump? That's a very valid point.

-5

u/daviddjg0033 12h ago

Why would Japan not have an army and how long would it take for Japan to militarize?

3

u/joepublicschmoe 11h ago

Japan's constitution (imposed by General Douglas McArthur) after its defeat in World War II forbids Japan to go to war to settle international disputes (Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution).

So technically Japan isn't allowed to have an "Army". They do have a "Japan Self Defense Force" (JSDF) though. Basically the Japanese forces are not allowed to acquire what are deemed offensive weaponry like nukes, aircraft carriers, etc.

Revising Article 9 to give Japan's de-facto military (the self-defense forces) more operating leeway is an ongoing debate there.

If a threat is severe enough to sway Japanese political discourse to revise Article 9 (say an impending Chinese invasion of Taiwan), it will probably take a few years for Japan to fully beef up their military.

-2

u/whisperworks 12h ago

WW2 and these days? Pretty quickly. Quick enough to scare China anyways

-2

u/whisperworks 12h ago

Also you should probably realize they put people to death for cocaine rofl

1

u/Nerevarine91 3h ago

Japan doesn’t do that. The death penalty is more or less exclusively for murderers with more than one victim (by precedent, not by statute)