PM Lee Hsien Loong at Capitaland's China-Singapore Dialogue 2014

Mr Ng Kee Choe, Chairman of CapitaLand

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

I’m happy to be here tonight at the China-Singapore Dialogue 2014, and to celebrate 20 years of CapitaLand’s presence in China.

Singapore – China relations are excellent and are growing. Our economic linkages are robust – last year, Singapore was China’s top foreign investor and China was Singapore’s largest trading partner. Our two countries enjoy close people-to-people ties, and our government officials exchange views often. Next year, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. I’m looking forward to an exchange of State Visits by President Tony Tan and President Xi Jinping, to mark this important milestone.

Our bilateral cooperation has developed over the years, in line with the changing needs of the two sides (与时俱进). At the Government-to-Government level, we are privileged to have the Joint Council on Bilateral Relations (JCBC), which is co-chaired by DPM Teo Chee Hean and PRC Vice-Premier Zhang Gao Li. The scope has expanded considerably – just two weeks ago, they met and five new agreements were signed on the sidelines in a broad range of areas, including human resource development, intellectual property and environmental protection.

We also just celebrated the 20th anniversary of our first G-to-G project, the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), which was set up when China was looking at integrated industrial development. It has been successful and replicated in various forms in other cities across China.

Our second Government-to-Government project, the Tianjin Eco-City (TEC), was launched in 2007 when China started to focus on sustainable development. It is developing into an environmentally-friendly, resource-efficient and socially-harmonious city, with over 15,000 residents so far in the TEC’s start-up-area.

And at Zhang Gaoli’s suggestion, we are now exploring the possibility of embarking on a third Government-to-Government project in China’s Western Region, based on the theme of “Modern Connectivity and Modern Services”, so as to fit in with China’s priorities to develop the Western Region through its “One Belt, One Road” framework.

Because of our good relations, we have also been developing frameworks of cooperation. We have a very good Free Trade Agreement– the only ASEAN country to have a bilateral FTA with China.

We have also stepped up our cooperation in financial services in recent years. The People’s Bank of China was also appointed an RMB clearing bank in Singapore. And direct currency trading between the Chinese Yuan and Singapore Dollar was launched in end-October. This will help to lower the cost of business between our countries and promote the international use of RMB for trade and investment. We also launched RMB-denominated futures on the Singapore Exchange.

There is scope for us to do more not just in financial services, but also in areas as diverse as food safety, smart cities and social governance. At the same time, business to business relations between China and Singapore are also growing. Our private sectors have been working together on major projects, such as the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, Jilin Food Zone, Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park and the Singapore-Nanjing Eco High-Tech Island.

Singapore companies are doing all sorts of things in China. For example, in real estate, CapitaLand is now the largest foreign real estate developer in China. Also, there are now 4 Raffles Cities in China, growing to 8 by 2017 – seven more than Singapore! Also, companies such as Golden Verde are in farming and agriculture, Hyflux in water and waste management, and Gajah International in IT and consumer products.

Similarly, we have over 5,000 companies operating in Singapore in diverse areas, many of whom have listed on the SGX and have set up regional HQs in Singapore – from real estate to IT (Lenovo) and e-commerce (Alibaba); to power generation – Huaneng Power owns one of the largest power generation companies in Singapore; and also telecoms like Huawei, who is operating Singtel’s copper-based voice and data network

Bilateral relations and cooperation are important, but cooperation in the regional context is also important. China prospers not just by doing business with Singapore, but with all countries in the region.
Likewise, China is one of several important partners for Singapore. This is why I am here for the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, to advance regional cooperation on trade and economics.

I am happy that China has been an effective chair and has set the agenda for this year’s APEC deliverables, in particular those related to the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and the APEC Connectivity Blueprint.

I welcome the joint efforts to build on the FTAs currently being negotiated, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which China is party to, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). An FTAAP would further integrate the global value chain in the Asia-Pacific region, and promote a more efficient flow of goods, services and people which will help businesses – a worthy goal to aim for!

Thank you again for your warm welcome. I am heartened to see many Chinese and Singapore companies doing business together and sustaining the momentum of our robust economic links. I am confident that there will be plenty of win-win opportunities for all.

I look forward to exchanging views with all of you.

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