PM: Scheme Taylor-ed to lure star not ‘unfriendly’ to Asean nations

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong was called on during a key regional summit to defend an exclusive deal his city-state struck with Taylor Swift that prevents the pop star from taking her current Eras Tour to anywhere else in South-East Asia.

Swift is performing six concerts from March 2 to 9 in Singapore under an exclusive deal that has been criticised by some South-East Asian neighbours who complained they have been deprived of the tourist boom that her concerts have brought elsewhere.

In a sign of the international phenomenon that Swift has become, the veteran Singaporean statesman was asked by a journalist to confirm the deal and comment on whether it undermined the spirit of cooperation of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the 10-nation bloc known by the acronym Asean, of which Singapore is a key member.

Lee was at a joint news conference yesterday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is hosting the Asean summit in the Australian city of Melbourne that marks 50 years since Australia became the bloc’s first external partner.

Other questions at the news conference covered issues including increasing tensions in the South China Sea, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the likelihood of China joining in a regional free trade pact known by the unwieldy acronym CPTPP.

Lee confirmed that Swift was provided with “certain incentives” from a government fund established to rebuild the tourism industry after Covid-19 disruptions to make Singapore her only South-East Asian destination.

He did not say how much the deal cost.

He said he did not regard the deal as unfriendly toward his Asean neighbours.

“It has turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t see that as being unfriendly,” Lee said.

Lee did not directly answer when asked if he had encountered “bad blood” among other leaders due to the deal.

Lee suggested that if Singapore hadn’t struck an exclusive deal, a neighbouring country might have done so.

“Sometimes one country makes a deal, sometimes another country does.

“I don’t explicitly say ‘you will come here only on condition that you’ll not go to other places’,” Lee said.

Lee said he expected that Australia similarly made “mutually acceptable, sensible arrangements” with Swift when she performed in Sydney and Melbourne before flying to Singapore.

He said he didn’t know what Australia’s arrangements were.

“If that’s what’s needed to be done to get an outcome which is mutually beneficial and which, from Singapore’s point of view, serves not just to grow the economy but also to bring in visitors and goodwill from all over the region, I don’t see why not,” Lee said. — AP