Toast Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the State Luncheon

Vice President Joe Biden, Mrs Biden, Secretary Kerry, I thank the Vice President and the Secretary for hosting us to lunch and also for your very warm remarks just now. I have had more than my say this morning at the welcome ceremony and at the press conference, so I will not bore those of you who were there this morning, repeating myself.

I would like to say we have a long and deep relationship between Singapore and America. It is a friendship, it is a partnership, it is a cooperation, based not just on interests but also values, strategic perspectives, and ideals, which are shared in large measure and which provide the basis for us to work together for many years to come.

It is also a relationship which is, as the Vice President says, ultimately about people, people who know one another, people who understand one another, are on the same wavelength. You do not always agree; you have different perspectives. But we can talk to each other, and I can see why you think like that, and I hope you can see why I think like that too.

I have been visiting America for many years, but many Singaporeans have visited America. There are thousands here at any time, and there are thousands more Americans who are in Singapore at any time. And all over America, in every state, almost every city, you will find Singaporeans who are here studying, working, living, maybe married here – flying our flag, but we are present, little red spots all over the US, helping that integration and that mutual understanding.

I first came to the US, visited it in 1974. I had spent three years in England. In those days, America seemed a long way away. But I came here, and it was something of a culture shock, because from Cambridge, England I came to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It was in the middle of summer. The temperatures were 105 degrees on certain days, and I survived three months of that in an artillery school, which is still there and where our soldiers still go and train, and exercise in very ambitious exercises now, which 40 years ago were unimaginable either for America or for Singapore.

After Oklahoma, I went and spent three weeks in Los Angeles. It was with a company called Litton Industries. I am not sure it still exists, but it was a defence company. And you get a sense of the West coast, California, which is a law unto itself and different from the rest of America – full of vibrance, oriented towards the Pacific, and if it were an economy it would be a big country in the world – even as it is, is a big partner for us and a big source of our investments.

A few years later, I came back and spent time in America again. Another place, which most of you will probably not have visited – Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It is one of the best places in America, I assure you, and not just because the penitentiaries are there. But because it is where you have got your Staff College for the Army and you bring together every year at that time, about a hundred allied and friendly officers from other countries. And they come, they study together, they get to know one another, they understand how you work. You hope you will learn to be able to interoperate with them, especially the NATO forces but also your friends elsewhere, and you establish friends whom you keep for a very long time. In my case I was very lucky – I had military sponsors whom I have kept in touch with, Frank and Mary McGurk, and they are still here, and here they are this afternoon. Almost 40 years later. After Fort Leavenworth, I suppose, I am not sure if you would call it a reprieve, but I went to Massachusetts.

It is the East coast. The rest of America will think, that is not representative of America either, but you get to understand not only how the universities work but also how the universities link up with the government, with the think tanks, and there is a constant flow of ideas, of people, of possibilities. And therefore, you renew your intellectual batteries and you are able to harness your universities and your academics, some of your brightest minds, on practical, real problems of the world. I spent a year at the Kennedy School.  Leavenworth said it was “the best year of your life” in America; Boston was not bad either.

So that was my initial sampler, but since then, over the years, I have been all over. And each time I visit a new city, you find there people who are different because America is diverse, people who are working hard in their own way, overcoming their own problems, people who are open, welcome, friendly, who embrace you and make you feel at home. And it is unique and it is only in America.

So today, to be here today and have this chance to talk to all of you, I am very grateful and very moved. And I would like to thank especially the Vice President for introducing me. He was in Singapore three years ago, and visited us. He visited our naval base where one of the littoral combat ships (LCS) was the USS Freedom. It was first one to be deployed to Singapore. I think they have rotated now, but right now there are two LCSs in Singapore, and eventually there will be four of them.

It is Singapore’s contribution to help America to be engaged in the region, to help contribute to the security and the stability of the region, and it helps our security and stability in Southeast Asia and in Singapore too. The Vice President has made a strong case for the TPP, as has the President. I know that he is past master at securing votes on the Hill for difficult problems like this, and I look forward to his deploying all his powers and getting the TPP ratified very soon. And we will do all we can to help, whether in Singapore or in America.

I am also happy to see Senator Kerry again – or Secretary Kerry now, who last visited us just in August last year. Last time I saw him he was, I think, still in crutches, but I am glad he has healed and I suspect he is cycling again. He has made many trips to Asia, added substance to the rebalance, attended many ASEAN meetings, and also opened a permanent mission to ASEAN – the first by a non-ASEAN member.

So I hope that the US will continue its rebalancing and its active engagement in the region. It is something which many, many countries in the region support and hope will strengthen. They do not all express it in the same way. Some of them find it more implicit than others. Singapore has nailed our colours to the mast and we have stated our position unambiguously for many years. It is a good thing, it needs to continue. It’s good not just for the region, where millions of souls depend upon it, but it benefits the United States tremendously, because you are securing peace and stability in the Asia Pacific which otherwise could be a very troublesome part of the world for you.

So finally, I would like to pay tribute and thank the many US ambassadors and diplomats who have served in Singapore and those who are here today as well as those who are not here today. They have played an important role, fostering the good relations between our two countries. Many of you have remained good friends and engaged long after your tour of duty. And your presence today testifies to the depth of the friendship between our two countries, not only the governments but also the peoples.

So may I now invite you to offer a toast to the enduring friendship between Singapore and the United States, and to wish that it will continue to strengthen and flourish for many years to come.

Cheers.