DPM Gan Kim Yong Media Wrap Up Interview on the 20th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation

DPM Gan Kim Yong: This year's JCBC is a significant one as it is our 20th edition. Singapore and China share a long-standing, multi-faceted and mutually beneficial partnership, and I am pleased to know that we have had fruitful and substantive discussions this afternoon. We announced 25 MOUs and agreements across a wide range of areas such as trade, finance, sustainability, digital economy, education and public health. These discussions reflect the progress that Singapore and China have made across the past 20 years and our commitment to an all-round, high-quality, future-oriented partnership, both in traditional sectors and emerging areas of growth such as the digital economy and sustainability. This will drive growth and development for both our economies and improve our resilience for the benefit of our businesses and our people. I want to take this opportunity to thank Vice Premier Ding and his delegation for the productive meetings, and I look forward to working with him as we continue to enhance Singapore-China cooperation. Let me say a few words in Mandarin.

新加坡和中国有着长期且多元化的双边关系。我们在双边关系中互惠互利，并维持高度的互信。今年新中双边合作联合委员会(JCBC)迎来了成立20周年的重要里程碑。也是我首次接任JCBC联合主席。我很欣慰我们今天的讨论富有成果。我们宣布了各种领域的25个合作项目，包括贸易、金融、可持续发展、数码经济、教育与卫生。这将推动两国的经济发展让我们的企业与人民能够从中受惠。这成果也反映了新加坡与中国在过去20年来在JCBC底下所取得的进展以及我们对于落实全方位高质量的前瞻性伙伴关系的决心。在此，我感谢丁薛祥副总理和他的代表团能够让我们在今年的会议取得丰收的成果。我也期待继续和他合作加强我们两国之间的关系。

MediaCorp Ch 8 News: 副总理，能否谈一谈这一次你跟中国官员的互动以及怎么建立互信和信任。同时2025年，你们有什么新的重点项目会推进?

DPM Gan: I think this JCBC is an important milestone. It is our 20th anniversary. It is also an opportune time for us to look back, to review the progress that we have made over the last 20 years, and to look at how we can further deepen our existing cooperation, such as the three government-to-government projects, as well as the China-Singapore FTA. I think we have made a commitment that we will bring it into force by the end of this year. At the same time, we also take this opportunity to explore new areas for cooperation, particularly given the new challenges and new opportunities that are emerging including the green economy, digital economy, as well as supply chain resilience. I think one particular, important milestone that we are marking is the 30th anniversary of Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park. Maybe I can ask (Minister Chan) Chun Sing to have a very quick update on the SIP.

Minister Chan Chun Sing: For the Suzhou Industrial Park, while we celebrate the 30th anniversary, we are also looking forward. There are things that will change and there are some things that will not change. Let me start with the things that we will see going forward, that will continue to evolve. Suzhou Industrial Park has gone from a conventional industrial park to one that focuses on innovation and new industries. Some of these new industries will include green industries, biopharma and also digital. Beyond the industries that will be in the new Suzhou Industrial Park, I think what we have seen Suzhou evolve (into) is also that it has become a township that takes into account some of the evolving challenges that China is tackling. For example, an ageing population, the integration of people outside Suzhou coming together to work as a composite and integrated team within Suzhou. These are areas that we will continue to work on and to find and break new grounds (on). There are also opportunities for us to work with Suzhou to go to third countries to explore other opportunities. These are the things that will evolve, but there are also things that would not change.

The essence of Suzhou, when it first started, was that it was a symbol for China's confidence and commitment to connect with the rest of the world. It was a different geopolitical environment at that point in time, and today there are also new and emerging challenges that require us to partner China, with the same confidence and commitment to remain connected. I think the symbolism of what Suzhou brings to the bilateral relationship will not change and, if anything, it will become even more important.

DPM Gan: Thank you. Let me say a few words in Mandarin,

今年是我们中新两国JCBC 20周年纪念。同时我们也借此机会一方面回顾过去我们取得的进展，另一方面我们也探讨我们如何加深我们目前所有的合作项目 - 比如说我们刚才谈到的苏州工业园区。除此之外，我们也借这次机会展望未来。我们要开拓所有新的合作领域，包括绿色经济、数码经济和供应链的韧性等等。这几方面我们相信都有许多开拓的空间。我们也探讨如何加强我们生物化学之间的合作。这些都是我们能够开拓的新领域。

Lianhe Zaobao: I would like to follow up on Ch8’s question, can DPM elaborate on what are the key priorities we will focus on bilateral cooperation next year? What are your key priorities and how it benefits our industry as well as our people?

DPM Gan: I think for our companies and businesses, they will continue to be keen to explore opportunities in Suzhou Industrial Park, and there are new development projects that are coming onstream, including biomedical science projects and (those on the) digital economy, as well as green economy, sustainability and supply chain. Our collaboration with Chongqing on the Connectivity Initiative is also an area (in which) we have discussed opportunities and potential for further growth, particularly in the form of connectivity to Southeast Asia from China. Chongqing is becoming an important node of this connectivity. In this regard, maybe I can ask Minister Chee Hong Tat to elaborate on the connectivity between China and Singapore, particularly relating to CCI, as well as other areas of connectivity.

Minister Chee Hong Tat: I am very happy that we have grown our connectivity between Singapore and China over the years. There are many different projects we have been working on. The two that we have pushed in more recent times - one is with Tianjin, the Green and Digital Shipping Corridor, and more recently with Shandong, and we are now working towards a national-level Green and Digital Shipping Corridor to allow the maritime collaboration between Singapore and China to further strengthen, and to look at new areas including sustainability, and decarbonisation of our supply chains. As DPM mentioned earlier, the resilience of our supply chains, especially in the current global environment, will become increasingly important. We have a lot of trade links, and there are a lot of movements of goods between Singapore and China. Not just between Singapore and China, but actually also through Singapore to, for example, ASEAN and other countries. This collaboration will also allow us to further strengthen Singapore's position as a hub in Southeast Asia and create more opportunities for us to work together with our Chinese counterparts, and Chinese companies looking at expanding their presence outside of China to Southeast Asia.

I am also delighted earlier to hear from Vice Premier Ding that we are going to look at ways to further increase our flight connectivity between Singapore and China to support more people-to-people flows. Last year, Vice Premier Ding and then-DPM Lawrence Wong set a target for us to restore air connectivity, not just back to pre-COVID levels but to surpass (pre-COVID levels). I am happy that we have achieved that target. Now let us look at how we can go further and promote more linkages between Singapore and China.

On the MAS side, we are also looking at how we can enhance our connectivity on the financial markets. We launched a slate of initiatives at this JCBC and I think it creates a good momentum and builds a strong platform for us to take our collaborations in capital markets and bond markets one step further.

Minister Chan: If I may add, beyond the economic and commercial projects. We are also trying to step up our exchanges on the personnel side and also at the Leadership Forum. I think both of both countries understand that our societal challenges, our governance challenges, continue to evolve in the new global environment, and also the domestic demands. So there are many opportunities for us to share information on how we can improve the governance and capabilities of government between the two sides. We look forward to both the Leadership Forum and the Social Governance Forum as platforms for us to improve our capacity to govern in the new global environment. So that is one.

The other one is that we also planting the seeds to allow the next generation to continue to enjoy the same level of trust, if not, a deeper level of trust to do projects together in the future. This will start with the education side, whereby we look forward to more exchanges from at the school-level, from primary school, secondary school, all the way through to university. We have programmes that will link up our universities - six of our autonomous universities, to link up with six other partners on the Chinese side, not just to do research but also to look at some of the shared challenges that we may have, for example, from healthcare to aging. At the same time, we also want to step up our professional exchanges between the education workforce on both sides, the teachers and the principals, to incorporate new education technology into new pedagogies.

DPM Gan: Our collaboration is multi-faceted, not just economics, but also connectivity, people-to-people exchanges, tourism, as well as public health and food security. On this, maybe I will ask (Senior Minister of State) Koh Poh Koon to talk about collaboration on the food safety side.

SMS Koh Poh Koon: At the last JCBC, we added a new pillar of cooperation which is in the area of food security, resilience in our supply chains for food. Part of the motivation is because China is our second largest source of fresh fruits and vegetables and the fourth largest source of seafood. In strengthening that, we want to also harmonise a lot of understanding of our standards for inspections, the quarantine and phytosanitary measures. So as part of the collaboration, both at the political level and official level, we have deepened our interactions. Actually, we are now forming a joint working group to try and harmonise some of the processes so that we can collaborate deeper. Deeper in areas of things like gene editing, understanding the genetic genomics of, say, vegetables, seeds and fish stock as well. So that from our own industry development, we can also move upstream to make sure that we have good fish eggs and fish fry for our farmers. One of the other pillars of cooperation is to also help us to increase our export potential. With this MOU, we are now able to export six different fish types farmed in Singapore into the Chinese market. Some of the details are still being worked out, but that opens up opportunities for many of our farms here to explore a larger market in China.

As you know, we are working towards our 30-by-30 vision, and Singapore's domestic market is a very small one. In order to help our farms to scale and grow and bring down their cost of production, we need to help them find a larger market overseas. I hope that this particular initiative would be a boost to our 30-by-30 vision, and help our farms know that if they are able to scale up more, they can serve beyond Singapore and enter a larger market.

DPM Gan: I should also add that our bilateral relationship and cooperation is built on the basis of mutual interest and a shared belief in cooperation, and how we can benefit one another. But at the same time, we also need to take a longer-term view. Many of the initiatives that we discussed and agreed on today will take time to implement and for the benefits to be realised. Connectivity is one example. We will continue to build and strengthen the connectivity between Singapore and China, and to encourage China businesses to use Singapore as a gateway to the Southeast Asian market and ASEAN market. This requires many years of hard work – continued hard work – to be able to bear fruit. On that basis, I think we need to take a longer-term view. We talked about what we can do today, tomorrow, but how can we develop, establish and strengthen a long-term partnership between Singapore and China?

Channel NewsAsia: You mentioned a lot about new areas of growth and then talked about the upgraded Free Trade Agreement. With Mr Trump at the helm again, could you talk about, amidst a more complex global backdrop, how does Singapore plan to navigate its trade strategy with China, especially with Mr Trump threatening tariffs on imported foreign goods, and more for Chinese goods? Were these latest developments discussed during the talks with Vice Premier Ding and with the other Chinese leaders?

DPM Gan: We discussed very broadly the challenges of the evolving global landscape. The relationship between China and the US has always been one of the most consequential relationships. With the new administration coming into place at the White House, many things are evolving. So we need to continue to watch the developments before we come to any specific conclusion. But I would say that the outlook, the operating environment going forward, is likely to continue to be very challenging and have significant uncertainties. From Singapore's point of view, being a small and open economy, we want to look forward to a more stable and secure relationship, and a constructive relationship, between China and the US. I think this will benefit Singapore as an open and small economy, and therefore we will encourage the US and China to continue to have dialogue, to continue to find ways to work together even as they compete with one another.

For Singapore businesses and ourselves, we need to continue to be nimble, to be flexible, to be prepared to adjust our strategy even as the global environment evolves. This is the same for our relationship between Singapore and China. As I emphasised earlier, the partnership between China and Singapore is a long-term one, and we have built this partnership over the last 30 years or more, and next year, we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of our diplomatic relationship. It is something that we have built over the years, and we will continue to strengthen the partnership between China and Singapore, and we will continue to watch developments and identify opportunities for our businesses as we navigate this uncertain and choppy waters ahead of us.

The Straits Times: I would like to circle back to the first question about how in the course of interactions with the Chinese leaders today, whether the meetings, interactions have contributed to the building of trust and understanding between both sides. As this is the first JCBC since Mr Lawrence Wong took the helm as the fourth generation Prime Minister, would DPM or any of the other ministers care to talk about whether you think the engagement at this year's JCBC signifies continuity or a new dynamic?

DPM Gan: As I mentioned, with every new generation of leaders, you need to refresh the relationship, you need to continue to strengthen the mutual understanding, so that you can build trust and confidence with one another. Fortunately, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is not new to China. He was the chair of JCBC last year, and he visited China, and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang was co-chair at that time. So they had the opportunity to meet one another, to better understand each other. This time, when Vice Premier Ding was here, he also met up with PM and during the discussion, they refreshed their relationship and friendship. I think this is something that is very important. And while the Vice Premier is here, he also visited several of our leaders. I think this provides an opportunity for them to further strengthen the relationship. But it will not stop here, because going forward, we will have to continue to build this relationship between the new generation of leaders of both countries, not just at the level of the ministers and political leaders. It is also important to provide opportunity for interactions at different levels of the government, senior officials as well as working level. The JCBC and the various projects that we are involved in will provide this opportunity for the leaders from both sides and the political as well as the public service level, to interact with one another.

But over and above that, it is also important for businessmen, for businesses to continue to engage with one another. Singapore businesses have been operating in China for a long time, and we have been there in the early days, and they remained there over the last few decades. The relationship that has been built up over these few decades is very important going forward, and I will encourage them to continue to do that. At the same time, we also want to encourage people-to-people interaction. I think Minister Chan mentioned about the Public Leadership Forum to encourage leadership at the people-to-people level. There are many Singaporeans who go to China for holiday, and a lot of Chinese tourists come to Singapore too. And this people-to-people exchange will also enhance the understanding and appreciation of each other's culture, and in this way, we can continue to strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

Minister Chan: I will say 3 things in response to the question. First, I think Singapore- China's relationship, we take a long-term perspective as DPM said. We look beyond the short-term perturbations. But underlying that is a deep sense of trust and respect for one another, a deep sense of trust that the Chinese know that we wish them well. From the early days when we established our bilateral relationship to the time when we established Suzhou Industrial Park in a very challenging geopolitical environment, and over all these years, we have consistently partnered China in its development. I think that can be seen through our actions and not just words. This is the deep sense of trust that we have with one another. Over the years, generations of Singaporean officials, both at a political level, government level, and the people-to-people level have continued to build on this.

Which comes to my second point, that notwithstanding us having dealt with China consistently over all these years, we are also not complacent. We constantly are on the lookout to better understand the latest challenges that China is grappling with, the latest opportunities. And in China, we want to eschew a binary interpretation where all things are good or all things are bad. China is a very big country. Even in the most challenging times, there will be opportunities. Even in the best of times, there will be challenges. In different parts of China, we need a nuanced understanding of both the challenges and opportunities so that we can constantly create new value propositions in our partnership with China. So just now, many of the projects that DPM Gan and my fellow colleagues have mentioned, is this constant search to better appreciate both China's challenges and opportunities, so that we can create new and relevant propositions for the times.

When we say 与时俱进 we really mean it, that we move with the times to fully and better understand both China's challenges and opportunities, and constantly challenge ourselves to come up with new value propositions. So every time we meet the Chinese, whether is it here or in China, we seek to understand them deeper, have in-depth conversations on what are the real issues that both of us are confronting, and where we can share notes on how we can overcome some of these challenges, both domestically and internationally.

Minister Chee: 我觉得我们看中国要看得长远一点。像副总理说的 - 高瞻远瞩。我们不要只是关注短期的趋势和挑战。因为我们考虑一个国家有没有发展的潜能，一个民族有没有发展的潜能。其实要考虑到比较长期、中期的发展趋势。所以中国有庞大的市场，有雄厚的人才支援。还有乘风破浪的毅力。所以我相信他们能够克服短期内所面对的一些挑战。如果我们看中国的企业在交通方面，在新能源，绿色经济等，其实他们的创新很多都已经走在世界的前端。所以我相信，如果我们和中国的合作不只是能够让中国跟新加坡的企业和人民能够有互惠共鸣的这个机会,也能够带动区域的发展，带动全球可持续的发展。

DPM Gan: Thank you very much.