SINGAPORE: Singapore has assured Malaysia that it will not do anything to harm relations as the city-state grapples with allegations that it was part of a US-led electronic spying operation in Asia.
“We have no interest in doing anything that might harm our partners or the friendship between our two countries,” Ong Keng Yong, Singapore’s high commissioner to Malaysia, said in comments carried by the Straits Times newspaper yesterday.
“We have an excellent bilateral relationship and cooperate closely on many matters of common interest,” he said without addressing the spying issue directly.
Singapore’s envoys to Malaysia and Indonesia were summoned by their host governments Tuesday following an Australian media report that implicated Singapore and South Korea in a spying ring.
Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom firm SingTel, which had been identified in Monday’s report as a key party to the alleged tapping of undersea telecommunication cables, also declined comment. SingTel is majority-owned by state investment firm Temasek Holdings.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Singapore and South Korea played key supporting roles in a “Five Eyes” intelligence network.
afp
