MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was called on Tuesday at a key regional summit to defend an exclusive deal his city-state struck with Taylor Swift that prevents the pop star from taking his current Eras tour elsewhere in the world. South East Asia.
Swift will perform six concerts from March 2 to 9 in Singapore as part of an exclusivity deal criticized by some Southeast Asian neighbors who complain they have been missing out on the tourism boom her concerts have sparked elsewhere.
In a sign of the international phenomenon that Swift has become, a journalist asked the elder Singaporean statesman to confirm the deal and say whether it undermined the spirit of cooperation of the Association of Nations. Southeast Asia, a 10-nation bloc known as the Swift. by the acronym ASEAN of which Singapore is a key member.
Lee was participating in a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a 60-year-old self-proclaimed Swiftie who revealed that Swift had taken second place in his Spotify Wrapped 2023 list after fellow American diva Lana Del Ray. The wrap is the smoking giant's annual report that lists the songs a listener played the most over the past year.
Albanese is hosting the ASEAN summit in the Australian city of Melbourne, which marks the 50th anniversary of Australia's first external partner.
Other questions asked during the press conference covered topics including growing tensions in the South China Sea, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the likelihood of China joining a regional free trade pact known as heavy acronym CPTPP.
Lee confirmed that Swift had benefited from “some incentives” from a government fund created to rebuild the tourism industry after COVID-19 disruptions to make Singapore its only destination in Southeast Asia. He did not say how much the transaction would cost.
He said he did not view the deal as hostile to its ASEAN neighbors.
“It turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t consider it hostile,” Lee said.
Lee did not respond directly when asked if he had encountered “bad blood” among other executives because of the deal.
Lees suggested that if Singapore had not entered into an exclusive deal, a neighboring country may have done so.
“Sometimes one country makes a deal, sometimes another country does. I'm not explicitly saying 'you'll come here provided you don't go anywhere else,'” Lee said.
Swift's rep did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lee said he expected Australia would also make “mutually acceptable and reasonable arrangements” with Swift when she performed in Sydney and Melbourne before flying to Singapore. Lee said he did not know what arrangements Australia had made.
“If this is what needs to be done to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome and one that, from Singapore's perspective, serves not only to grow the economy but also to attract visitors and goodwill from across the region , I do not do it. see why not,” Lee said.
“If we hadn't made such an arrangement, would she have come elsewhere in Southeast Asia or other places in Southeast Asia? Maybe, maybe not. These are things she will decide,” Lee added.
Albanese attended one of Swift's concerts in Sydney last month.