Under The Angsana Tree: Singapore-China Bilateral Projects

Singapore-China bilateral projects can go beyond local and regional levels

Countries need to “build bridges and not walls” in order to navigate the many shared challenges in a highly interconnected world, Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing said during his four-day visit to China, which ends on Wednesday (Sep 13). He called for closer international cooperation and urged nations to play their roles in upholding and shaping the global rules in order to collectively progress ahead. “We must work towards developing a multi-dimensional global cooperation system,” Mr Chan said on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the Singapore-China Forum on Leadership in Beijing.

“(This is a) system that is anchored by the rules-based multilateral system, where all countries, big and small, play by the rules, have an interest to upkeep the rules and continuously refresh the rules for the new and emerging challenges.” Mr Chan, who is also Singapore’s Education Minister, added that the system needs to be backed by new structures and greater cross-border cooperation to strengthen the speed and effectiveness of global action to address transboundary challenges, including disease outbreaks and climate change. On the economic front, he said that resilience is best achieved through diversification and interdependence, urging a push for global integration through the strengthening of multilateralism and the upholding of an international rules-based order.

Projects between Singapore’s and China’s governments can be “refreshed” to spearhead new growth, evolving beyond local and regional levels to include international partnerships, Mr Chan said during the bilateral leadership forum. He said projects such as the Suzhou Industrial Park, the Tianjin Eco-city and the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative, have enabled both countries to support each other’s development through cooperation and knowledge exchange. “Looking ahead, these government-to-government projects can be refreshed to trail blaze new development models of high-quality growth and experiment innovative approaches of governance,” he said.

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Singapore to keep finding ways to add value to China, says DPM Lawrence Wong

(From left) National Development Minister Desmond Lee, DPM Lawrence Wong and Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat speaking to media in Beijing on Dec 8. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

Singapore has to constantly find ways to provide value to its relationship with China, whether it is in sharing its experience in grappling with an ageing population or linking China with the wider region.

At the same time, the world’s second-largest economy, with its considerable strengths today, also offers lessons for Singapore.

More than three decades since establishing bilateral relations, the relationship is now one of mutual learning and collaboration, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Speaking to Singapore media as he wrapped up a four-day visit to China, DPM Wong, flanked by his Cabinet colleagues Desmond Lee and Chee Hong Tat, said that Singapore, in its role as a reliable and trusted partner, can also connect China to the wider region.

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Singapore-China project in Guangzhou to speed up expansion

PM Lee touring Yongqingfang, a cultural conservation area of historical buildings, in Guangzhou on Tuesday. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Singapore companies are raring to plunge back into the Chinese market following its post-Covid-19 reopening, prompting a joint Singapore-China development project in Guangzhou to speed up its expansion by four months.

The second phase of the China-Singapore Smart Park, which focuses on tech innovation and smart cities, will be completed in June ahead of its October timeline. It is sited within the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, where Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made his first stop on Tuesday, on the second day of his official visit to China.

The 232 sq km township, about an hour north of Guangzhou’s city centre, was started in 2010 as a private sector-led endeavour to grow high-tech industries integrated with residential, commercial and recreational developments. There, PM Lee visited the China-Singapore International Joint Research Institute, which was jointly set up by Nanyang Technological University and South China University of Technology, and focuses on research areas such as artificial intelligence, new energy, green buildings and pollution control. He also spoke to some companies at the International LaunchPad, a one-stop service platform within the smart park for companies wanting to enter the China market.

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S'pore, China to continue cooperation in bilateral projects; 10 MOUs, agreements signed

The memoranda of understanding and agreements were signed at the 16th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation on Dec 8, 2020. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

The Prime Minister's Office provided on Tuesday (Dec 8) updates to three bilateral projects between Singapore and China, namely the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI).

The statement noted that both countries will "strengthen cooperation in new areas such as healthcare and biomedical services, and modern services" in Suzhou, while tapping the China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone to test out innovations. Suzhou is a city in Jiangsu province in eastern China. Both countries also agreed to continue deepening efforts to promote the success of Tianjin Eco-City to other cities in China and countries along China's Belt and Road initiative, given that the eco-city in northern China is at the forefront of sustainable development.

Leaders noted that good progress had also been made on the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, in areas such as financial services, aviation, transport and logistics, and information and communications technology. "In particular, the CCI-New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has played a useful role in promoting trade and connectivity, and ensuring the resilience of supply chains between South-east Asia and Western China through the mutual hubs of Singapore and Chongqing amidst the pandemic," the PMO said.

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Singapore, China sign nine cooperation agreements, MoUs

Singapore and China have signed nine agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in various fields such as customs clearance, intellectual property management, education, innovation and communications, and smart city development

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and China’s Vice Premier Han Zheng witnessed the signing of these deals after the conclusion of the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JSBC) meeting in Chongqing on October 15. The two government officials also reviewed the bilateral cooperation as well as economic transformation and trade liberalisation, financial cooperation, and state-level bilateral cooperation projects. Heng said that collaboration between Singapore and China must progress with time, as both countries have embarked on a new phase of development.

He also highlighted common challenges facing Singapore and China, including environmental protection, food security and an aging population. The two officials reaffirmed the commitment to free and open trade and announced the start of the Singapore-China Free Trade Agreement Upgrade Protocol.

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Third Singapore-China project to be based in Chongqing: Xi

SINGAPORE SOUVENIR: (from left) Madam Peng Liyuan, President Xi Jinping, President Tony Tan, Mrs Mary Tan and Pathlight School student Glenn Phua at the Istana on Friday. Glenn's painting of the Singapore Botanic Gardens was presented to the Chinese president

THE third Singapore-China government-led project will be based in Chongqing, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a state banquet at the Istana on Friday night.

"During my visit, the two sides will officially launch the third project based in Chongqing," he said. The bilateral project will be on the theme of "modern connectivity and modern services", and could help lower the cost of doing business in China's western region.

Singapore and China will sign an agreement on Saturday to kick-start the project, which is a highlight of Mr Xi's two-day state visit to Singapore. The other two cities in contention for the project in western China were Chengdu and Xi'an.

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Singapore-China ties: 7 things to know about 25 years of diplomatic relations

Then Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (centre), his wife Kwa Geok Choo (second from left) and Chinese Premier Hua Kuo-feng (left) waving during Mr Lee's visit to China in May 1976. PHOTO: ST FILE

Singapore and China mark 25 years of diplomatic relations this year.

On Friday (Nov 6), President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan will make their first state visit to Singapore. In many ways, the ties between Singapore, a city-state of 5.5 million, and China, a behemoth with 1.4 billion people, have been unique.

Here are seven things about the two countries' relationship:

1. Handshake seals the deal - Singapore and China established diplomatic relations on Oct 3, 1990 at the United Nations complex in New York.
2. Why did it take so long? - The ceremony took place 14 years after former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's first visit to China in 1976.
3. Back in the 1970s - Way before 1990, the friendship between the late Mr Lee and China patriarch Deng Xiaoping set the tone for Singapore-China ties.
4. Sending ambassadors - A year after ties were formalised, Singapore sent its first ambassador to China. Mr Cheng Tong Fatt was in China for seven years. Before becoming a diplomat, he was permanent secretary of the Ministry of Culture.
5. We mean business - China is now Singapore's largest trade partner, with two-way trade reaching S$121.5 billion last year. In January 2014, Singapore became China's largest foreign investor for the first time with US$7.3 billion worth of investments in 2013.
6. Joint projects - Economic ties between Singapore have always been governed by pragmatism. Trade between Singapore and China did not stop even at the height of the Cold War.
7. Panda diplomacy - Pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia created a stir when they arrived in Singapore in 2012. They are on a 10-year loan from China. The loan, announced in 2009, was to mark 20 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

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Singapore Foreign Policy: People's Republic of China

Singapore enjoys longstanding and substantive relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), anchored by frequent high-level exchanges, multifaceted cooperation, growing people-to-people exchanges, and robust economic ties. In 2015, Singapore and China celebrated the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and released a Joint Statement that characterised bilateral relations as an “All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times”. Singapore and China are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations in 2020.

Since 2013, China has been Singapore’s largest trading partner, and Singapore has been China’s largest foreign investor. Following PRC President Xi Jinping’s State Visit to Singapore in 2015, both sides agreed to launch negotiations to upgrade the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) which had entered into force on 1 January 2009. The upgrade of the CSFTA was concluded in November 2018 and the signing of the CSFTA Upgrade Protocol was witnessed by PM Lee Hsien Loong and Premier Li Keqiang during the latter’s Official Visit to Singapore in conjunction with the 33rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits. It comprised a meaningful and substantive package in terms of market access for Singapore’s export of goods and services into China and provided greater transparency and predictability for business activities between the companies from Singapore and China.

Singapore and China have established three Government-to-Government projects, namely (a) the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park; (b) the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City; and (c) the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity. We have also established a state-level bilateral level cooperation project, the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City and several private sector-led, government-supported projects such as the Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park, the Nanjing Eco High-Tech Island, and the Jilin Food Zone. In addition, we also launched the Singapore-China (Shenzhen) Smart City Initiative. At the provincial level, we have eight provincial business and economic councils with Sichuan, Shandong, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai. Since the mid-1990s, more than 50,000 Chinese officials have come to Singapore for various study visits and training programmes. Despite the challenges brought about by COVID-19, both sides have maintained close bilateral cooperation. Singapore and China launched a fast lane in early June 2020 to allow for essential business and official travel with six Chinese provinces/municipalities. This fast lane was Singapore’s first with another partner, and China’s first with a Southeast Asian country.

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Suzhou Industrial Park: 30 years on

The industrial park was established on 26 February 1994

The China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) project was launched in 1994 to develop a model industrial township within the city of Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province. The first flagship joint project between the two governments, a key feature of the SIP involves the transfer of Singapore’s “software” – industrial development model and public-administration experience – to China. At the time, China was keen to study Singapore’s development model, while Singapore saw China as an important market for the country’s regionalisation drive. Both governments believed that the SIP, developed and managed based on Singapore’s approach, would be attractive for foreign direct investments. Profitable since 2001, the Singapore–China cooperation zone currently spans an area of 80 sq km.5 Besides industrial developments, the integrated township also encompasses residential areas, commercial and recreational facilities, as well as educational institutions.

The origin of the SIP project can be traced to former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who mentioned during his tour of southern China in February 1992 that the country could learn from Singapore in the areas of economic and social development. In Singapore, then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew saw China’s interest in the city-state as an opportunity that could benefit both countries. During a visit to China between September and October 1992, Lee expressed intent for a bilateral project through which Singapore would share its experience.7 On 18 December 1992, an agreement to confirm the mutual interest to develop an industry township in Suzhou was signed between the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) International and the Suzhou government.8 Thereafter, Lee sent a proposal for cooperation to China’s then vice-premier Zhu Rongji, which entailed a government-to-government transfer of Singapore’s knowhow in the development of an industrial township in Suzhou.9 Specifically, a 70-square-kilometre parcel of land in the east of Suzhou was selected for the proposed project.

On 26 February 1994, Lee and then Chinese vice-premier Li Lanqing signed the government-to-government agreement on software transfer and joint development of a special economic zone in Suzhou to better attract foreign investors. Also inked on the same day was the commercial agreement on the formation of the joint venture, with 65 percent of its shares owned by SSTD and 35 percent by a Chinese consortium, the Suzhou United Development Company (SUDC). The joint-venture entity known as the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Company (CSSD) – comprising SSTD and SUDC – was responsible for the development, management and commercial viability of the SIP.16 The two countries also established a joint steering council – first co-chaired by Li Lanqing and Singapore’s then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – to review and tackle any key issues on the township project. A ground-breaking ceremony for the SIP was held on 12 May 1994.

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