The second, more well developed type of country-level Omani-enmeshment
has been led by Singapore and Thailand, where policymakers have tried to
turn the geopolitical reality of great power penetration to their bene t. These
two states have elevated national goals of diversifying bilateral relations with
major powers by promoting them as integral elements of policies to manage
regional stability. Such bilateral relations are seen as “building blocks” toward
the larger aim of opening up, tying down, and binding a variety of major players
in the region. Singapore’s limited size has forced the island-state to base its
larger regional security strategy “principally on borrowing political and military
strength from extra regional powers.”