The reality gap is that the strategic interests of the US and China are at diametric ends and serve fundamentally different purposes.
Friendship has to be demonstrated by deeds.
One paradigm example is the controversy over intellectual property issues. Whenever the US complained about Singapore's slack protection of US intellectual property rights, our Government obliged by overhauling our intellectual property laws repeatedly. Therein lies the nub about why Singapore can never be used by the US as an example of how to interface with other Asian countries. To suggest that Singapore can act as bridge is patently facetious because there is a thriving colony of paid China lobbyists in Washington, D.C. and the US West Coast, the Better Hong Kong Foundation and thousands of pro-China Chinese in the US who perform that role. This is another example of Singapore soliciting an exaggerated role for itself in the international body politic.