Small size, lack of strategic depth, and insecurity of the country, not to mention here, even the survival and utilization of Singapore citizens are very limited? After all, the total population of Singapore has reached 5.8 million, with an average of 8,000 people living per square kilometer. Such a population density is quite rare in the world.

The Singapore authorities' solution to the population density problem now is to continuously expand the reclamation area? From the initial 580 square kilometers of land to the current 724 square kilometers of land, Singapore has been acquired through continuous land reclamation.

Singapore has a long history of land reclamation.

Since the beginning of the19th century, Singapore has been trying to reclaim land from the sea to expand its land. First of all, I dug mountains and earth on my own land to fill the sea Later, when my own land was almost used, I began to buy sand and fill the sea from neighboring countries. Of course, because Singapore's actions are too crazy, the distance between Singapore and Malaysia is getting closer and closer, which leads to constant contradictions between Malaysia and Singapore because of maritime issues.

Later, after repeated representations from Malaysia, neighboring countries in Singapore stopped selling sand to Singapore. Now Singapore can only buy sand from other overseas countries to fill the sea, so the speed of land expansion has also slowed down.

Therefore, in the long run, it is unrealistic for Singapore to continue to achieve large-scale expansion through land reclamation. After all, it is not only slow, but also expensive.

Is there any way to solve this problem? It is really a good idea to follow the example of the United States in selling land, and it can be done once and for all.

Moreover, the surrounding Malaysia is relatively sparsely populated, and even the islands adjacent to Singapore are uninhabited. If Singapore can buy these islands, the problem of land shortage will be fundamentally solved.

So why didn't Singapore buy land from beginning to end? As the most developed country in Southeast Asia, it is obviously not short of money, and there must be a deeper reason behind its failure to buy land like the United States.

First of all, the nature of land in the two periods is very different.

When the United States bought land, it was the craziest era of global colonization. At that time, all the land occupied by European countries in the North American continent was enclosed by force, which was not the inherent territory of the country at all. To put it bluntly, it is a temporary occupation of a piece of land. Moreover, there was no high-precision map at that time, so although there was a global land cognitive boundary, it was still vague.

Moreover, at that time, there was a war between colonial countries for colonial territory, and the aborigines in colonial areas were constantly rising up, so the colonial countries' management of their colonies was not very stable.

Including Russia selling Alaska to the United States, when even the Russians took the initiative.

Because Alaska is too far away from the Russian capital, remote control is too difficult, and the annual tax revenue here is far from the expenditure needed to occupy it. Not to mention, at that time, Russia had just lost the battle. Even if Russia did not sell this land, it would be lost in the future.

Russia feels that this is a land that loses money. Even if it is reluctant to part with this land, it will try its best to dispose of it. So Russia proposed to sell the land to Alaska, and at that time, the United States also had money and bought it without thinking.

In contrast, the Malaysian Islands around Singapore belong to this country's inherent territory, and under the current international situation, these territories can't be snatched away by other countries, and the residents in these territories can't have the will to leave the motherland.

Now the international community can fight for a little territory or an invisible island reef. Under such an international background, how can the Malaysian government sell its island for money?

Let's take a step back and say that even if the Malaysian government is really crazy and intends to sell it, when it implements this policy, it will definitely trigger public demonstrations, thus affecting the position of the ruling party in the country and creating opportunities for its opponents.

Therefore, even if a country's leadership system is stupid and chaotic, it will not do such stupid things.

And now Singapore's military strength is not strong, but the United States was extremely arrogant when buying land.

The land acquired by the United States is not so much a fair deal with colonial countries as a forced purchase or a deterrent sale.

Before Europeans arrived in North America, it belonged to native Indians. Later, after Europe discovered that there were a lot of silver mines in North America, it came here frantically to enclosure. The United States was the first colony in the British circle, and later gained independence from Britain.

After independence, the strength of the United States continued to grow, and it began to show unprecedented greed for land. At that time, traffic was underdeveloped and communication was not very convenient, so it was difficult for European countries to control North American colonies remotely.

At that time, the credit value among countries in the world was not higher than it is now, and the international situation lacked a certain balance. If the colonial countries don't sell these lands to the United States, the United States is likely to get them through some improper means.

For example, before Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States, the United States had already shown its readiness to invade Louisiana militarily. At that time, France was deeply involved in the war with Britain and Russia and had no time to take care of this colony across the sea. So Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States at a low price of150,000 yuan.

Later, Napoleon also made it clear that 65,438+0.5 million was not even enough for his military spending in North America for a week. To put it bluntly, Napoleon wanted to find a way down the stairs. After all, he was completely afraid that he would not come and would lose his land sooner or later.

This is exactly the same as what Russia thought at that time.

In contrast, although Singapore is rich and has certain militarized equipment, it simply has no ability to threaten Malaysia.

Land transactions between countries from ancient times to the present have more or less a feeling of buying and selling. Singapore simply does not have the strength to buy any of the surrounding islands. What's more, these islands are at the door of Malaysia, which is particularly convenient to control. Even if Singapore wants to occupy them by some rogue means, it is unrealistic.

Finally, let's make a brief summary.

The international environment is different and the importance of territory is self-evident. It should be more and more difficult to measure land prices in money internationally. Although the United States was strong at that time, it was only with the help of the special international environment that it was able to fish in troubled waters and seek benefits; Obviously, Singapore not only did not have that strength, but also did not rely on the chaotic international environment and order at that time.