(FORTUNE Magazine) – Singapore has surfaced as the Kuwait of Southeast Asia: a small country (pop. 2.7 million) with billions of dollars of hard cash for investment overseas. Conservative estimates place the republic's reserves -- from taxes, trade surpluses, and the partial privatization of Singapore Airlines and other companies -- at $28 billion. In its biggest plunge abroad, the island nation paid $465 million in May for 5% of Brierley Investments, a New Zealand holding company. The investment gives Singapore stakes in an assortment of U.S. companies, including Cummins Engine, La Quinta Motor Inns, and Playboy Enterprises, whose magazine the island nation bans. As part of the same deal, Singapore bought 30% of Brierley's biggest holding, London's Mount Charlotte Investments, which owns 104 hotels in Britain, including London's swank White's Hotel. Other Singapore acquisitions include the Chun King Oriental food line, purchased for $52 million from RJR Nabisco in 1989, and the Thanksgiving Tower in Dallas ($160 million, 1989). Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, says Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, ''was a good opportunity to tell Singaporeans: Look at Kuwait. It's got wealth but couldn't defend itself. We have got the wealth, and we've got to defend ourselves.'' So Singapore continues to pour an estimated $1.64 billion a year into building its armed forces. Recent buys include eight General Dynamics F-16 fighters.