Singapore Tightens Security Near Shangri-La Hotel As Rumours Swirl
Hotel owned by Hong Kong billionaire Robert Kuok has record of hosting high-level summits – and would satisfy Pyongyang’s insistence that event cannot be held in an American or European owned venue
Singapore has moved to declare its leafy diplomatic district near the popular Orchard Road shopping belt a “special event area”, fuelling speculation that the landmark summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place at the Shangri-La Hotel.
The announcement in the government gazette came as diplomatic sources told This Week In Asia on Monday that Pyongyang was insistent that the June 12 event could not be held in an American or European owned venue.
Sources also indicated that if everything went smoothly, the two leaders would stay at separate hotels and convene at another hotel for the summit.
Not one of the three premises would be owned by a Western company. The five-star Shangri-La Hotel is part of the Kuok Group, owned by Hong Kong-based Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok. Two other hotels that have seen heightened security activity, according to local media reports, are owned by Singaporean families.
“Optics will matter significantly. The two leaders cannot be staying at the same hotel and one cannot be seen as calling on the other. They must appear at the summit at the same time,” said another source. “Everything has to be timed with impeccable precision.”
East Asia security expert Steve Tsang said “symbolism and paranoia may both be at work” in the arrangements being demanded. “Knowing how much both sides want the summit to happen Mr Kim must feel that he can insist on a few matters that are unlikely to be vetoed by the Americans. Insisting on using a hotel not owned by ‘the West’ certainly has a symbolic value in highlighting that the president of the United States, leader of ‘the West’ will meet Mr Kim as an equal,” said Mr Tsang who is from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
And Mr Kim and his security corps are “very probably paranoid” not just with physical safety but also security of their communications, he added.
However, there has been no official indication yet that these two hotels will play a part in the summit. Monday’s announcement by the Singapore government did not mention a specific venue, saying only that the area, one of the Lion City’s most prestigious residential districts, would be made a special event zone from June 10 to June 14.