Golf has often served as a quiet diplomatic channel. In 1997 and 2000, rounds of golf played between Singapore’s former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and US President Bill Clinton provided a relaxed setting for private discussions. These informal interactions helped ease tensions between the two countries and ultimately led to the initiation of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.
The road from America to Singapore may well lead through a golf course. That seems to be true of Dr Anjani Kumar Sinha, better known as Anji Sinha, whom US President Donald Trump has nominated as America’s next Ambassador to Singapore. His nomination is currently awaiting confirmation by the US Senate, where the Republican Party, under Trump’s leadership, holds a majority.
A shared passion for golf brought the two men together in South Florida in a friendship that, going back to at least the early 2010s, has blossomed into respect and admiration. Sinha is believed to be a member of the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago Club or Trump International Golf Club in South Florida. The exclusivity of a golf course allows players to engage one another with a degree of ease and familiarity that may not always be possible off the course.
