Opening Remarks by CEO Kwek Poh Heok at the Business China Youth Forum 2026

[The following speech was delivered in English and Chinese]

Mr Desmond Tan, Senior Minister of State, Prime Minister’s Office and Deputy Secretary General of NTUC;

Business China Chairman Mr Lee Yi Shyan;

Distinguished guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen and

All our youths here today,

 

Introduction

  1. Good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Business China Youth Forum, or BCYF in short.
  2. 各位来宾，大家下午好！感谢大家出席第七届通商中国青年论坛。接下来，我将以英语发言，并在结尾用华语做总结。
  3. BCYF is a platform by youth, for youth. Our organising committee brings together Youth Chapter members, scholarship recipients, and youth programme participants. Some of you first joined us through these programmes and have since stepped forward to make a more active contribution. Thank you for making BCYF possible.

 

BCYF 2026 Theme

  1. This year’s theme: “Riding the New Wave: Future of Work Reimagined” is particularly relevant. AI and technological advancements are changing where and how we work, bringing unfamiliar challenges but also new possibilities.
  2. Navigating these shifts require understanding what is changing, continuing to learn, and building cultural fluency. And these are the three points I would like to share today.

 

Understand what is Changing

  1. First, let us consider what is changing. Several forces are reshaping work. One cuts across almost every industry: the rapid rise of AI.
  2. Earlier technologies automated physical and routine tasks. AI now enhances automation, decision-making, and can do so much more. That is why a one-person company is now a real possibility. With AI agents, one person can research a market, build a product and reach customers in different places, before hiring anyone. That lowers the barrier to starting something of your own. It also means companies can do the same work with fewer people.
  3. However, this brings up two key risks. One, people may lose the daily practice that builds experience and judgement. Two, there may be new roles, but these may require skills people have not yet been trained for. A Stanford study found that employment for young workers in jobs that are most AI-exposed, is 20% lower than if their jobs had grown at the same pace in jobs that are less-AI exposed. The researchers stress that this does not prove AI is the cause per se. But, it suggests that the first rung of the career ladder may be becoming harder to reach.
  4. Even so, the future is not so bleak. The World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, 170 million jobs will be created and 92 million displaced – a net gain of 78 million – driven by AI as well as other factors such as demographic and green transitions. AI could take over parts of these jobs, which frees people to focus on more creative, relationship-based and strategic work.
  5. Capturing these opportunities will take preparation by different stakeholders. Employers could look beyond what young people can do on day one to what they can grow into, and continue giving them room to develop professionally. Society may have to rethink their education and workforce policies, and introduce other structural measures to ensure that we can ride on this wave rather than be washed away by it.
  6. The future will favour those who use technology as a complement and not see it as a competitor. At the recent FutureChina Global Forum, organised by Business China, we discussed “AI bilinguals”: people who combine expertise in their field with the ability to understand and apply AI. Whatever you are studying or working on now, you can start building both.

 

Keep Learning

  1. This takes practice and a commitment to the continuous cycle of learn, unlearn and relearn. Learning builds our foundations. Unlearning involves questioning assumptions that may no longer serve us. Relearning means applying what we know in new ways and with new tools. A brighter future belongs to those who can critique AI and ask the right questions. AI can serve as our second brain, but it should not always be your first brain.
  2. Consider a graphic designer. Colour, typography and an understanding of the audience remain essential foundations. What may need to be unlearned is the assumption that every visual must be created manually. Relearning means directing new AI tools to explore concepts and churn various designs in a short period of time, and then selecting good ones, and refining them to meet clients’ needs. The original expertise remains valuable; how it is applied is being developed.
  3. At this stage of your life, learning new skills to test new ideas and possibly to fail fast is alright. One of the greatest advantages of being young is that you have the time to explore and try.
  4. The future of work may therefore belong to those who can consistently practise the cycle of learn, unlearn and relearn, and to solve society’s greatest challenges. In this respect, there is much we can learn from China’s ecosystem of practical, high-tech innovation. China is actively deploying next-generation robotics, advanced AI diagnostics and smart healthcare platforms at immense scale. By constantly studying how these solutions work in practice, we can adapt them to address Singapore’s demographic challenges.
  5. Learning about China is a longer-term endeavour and it requires more than just observing technology. This is why Business China is working with Temasek Poly on the China Ready Executive Programme. In fact, we have already conducted a pilot run. Feedback has been positive as it helped our adult learners build practical knowledge of China’s evolving business and tech environment, as well as the cross-cultural capabilities needed to engage more effectively.

 

Cultural Fluency

  1. As AI automates more tasks, and the ability to evaluate AI-generated work and continuous learning becomes expected, what will set you apart on the global stage?
  2. I believe one key differentiator will be cultural fluency – the ability to navigate different cultures, understand how people think and work, and build trust with people who may be different from us. This is where being bicultural, or even multicultural becomes an invaluable advantage.
  3. Today, AI remains somewhat blind to the corporate cultures and institutional cultures that shape our markets. I just came back from China. During my trip, many partners told me that Singapore and China are not short of capital or talent. What they need are people who understand how business works in both places. Singapore’s business ecosystem is associated with its regulatory clarity, structured corporate governance, and agile prototyping sandboxes. China’s business landscape, on the other hand, thrives on tremendous scale, relational structures, and amazing speed (or what we term as 中国速度 ). AI can bridge languages, and humans can go one step further to better bridge different business cultures. And when this happens, there are more possibilities, such as when companies from both countries expand into third-party markets together.
  4. Furthermore, the best technology cannot replicate human connection. For example, AI can instantly translate a legal contract from English to Mandarin. But digital trust may not always be strong, especially with the prevalence of deepfakes and scams. How do we then close a multi-million-dollar deal? I believe it boils down to authentic relationships, proven record of reliability, and sound reputation among the parties involved.
  5. The leaders who would thrive in the future are therefore those who use AI to remove linguistic barriers, use their freed cognitive capacity to master cultural nuances, navigate cross-border relationships, and establish deep institutional trust.
  6. This is why Business China places strong emphasis not only on bilingualism, but also Through programmes such as our Youth Interns Exchange Scheme and Youth Leaders Programme, we create opportunities for young people to experience different cultures firsthand. Our partners here are also creating similar opportunities for young people to gain valuable exposure. After all, there is no better way to build confidence and understanding than through lived experience.

 

Conclusion

  1. We can be optimistic about the opportunities that new technologies unlock, but realistic about the challenges that these technologies bring and the need to learn, unlearn and relearn. None of us can predict with certainty what the future of work will look like. But one thing is certain: the future of work is not just shaped by technology, but by the choices we make and the future we want to create.
  2. I will now say a few words in Mandarin.

 

结语

  1. 面对AI带来的新一轮科技浪潮，未来的职场，不仅仅是看科技发展有多快，更重要的是懂不懂得善用科技。我想和大家分享16个字供参考：学以致用、用后要审、审后再改、改后创新。AI是工具，使用时要判断、修改，在AI提供的内容基础上，再加入个人的思考和创意，例如制造新的产品和服务，为社会带来更大的价值和贡献。养成良好的使用习惯，才能真正善用AI，而不是依赖AI。
  2. 要在未来职场中保持竞争力，也需要有不断学习的心态。时代瞬息万变，我们应该如何更有效地学习？在此，我想与大家分享一个概念，那就是保持“半空杯状态”。
  3. 如果把知识比作为杯中的水，随着不断学习，杯子最终会被填满。但学习不应该只是不断往杯子里加水，也要懂得在适当的时候，倒掉过时的认知，为新知识与技术腾出空间。这就是“半空杯状态” 。
  4. 除此之外，AI虽然能够提高效率，但最终无法取代人与人之间的信任。未来属于那些能够跨越文化差异、与合作伙伴产生共鸣的人。因为语言只是沟通的起点，真正促成信任与合作的，是我们对不同文化的深度理解与包容。
  5. 这也是为什么通商中国要举办青年论坛。感谢各位青年朋友的出席，希望大家通过今天的交流有所启发和收获。同时，感谢所有合作伙伴的鼎力支持。
  6. 未来的职场有无限可能，正等着在座的青年朋友们积极进取、共同创造。
  7. 谢谢大家！