Dean & CEO of Civil Service College, Mr Kwek Mean Luck,
President Emeritus of NTU & Board Member of Business China, Professor Su Guaning,
Board Members of Business China,
Distinguished speakers,
Ladies & gentlemen,
Good Afternoon.
First of all, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you to the China Insights Symposium jointly presented by Business China, Civil Service College and Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management. Today, it gives me great pleasure to welcome 3 renowned scholars from Tsinghua University, namely, Prof Xue Lan, Prof Meng Qingguo and Prof Yang Yansui, as well as NTU’s President Emeritus and our board member, Prof Su Guaning, to moderate the plenary discussion today. Thank you, Prof Su.
As mentioned by Mr Kwek earlier, China now has the prowess to influence the rest of the world. But in fact way back in the late 1970s, way before China gain prominence when it became the world’s second largest economy, Singapore’s Founding Prime Minister and Patron of Business China, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, had already started to establish relations with China by frequently visiting China and laying strong foundations for the substantive official relations between Singapore and China.
It is on this foundation that Business China, a non-profit organisation, was jointly established in November 2007 by Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Our mission is to nurture an inclusive bilingual and bicultural group of Singaporeans, through extensive use of the Chinese language as the medium of communication, to deepen Singaporeans’ understanding of a rapidly changing China, to leverage on our multi-cultural heritage, and develop a cultural and economic bridge linking the world and China. The setting up of Business China exemplifies continuation of the friendship between both Singapore and China.
I am heartened that the Civil Service College shares our vision. Their international department, the CSCI, often host officials from various government departments from the China. These programmes which shares our nation-building experiences, are specially customized and conducted in Mandarin. As Mr Kwek just mentioned, the challenges faced by China are global issues and not unique to China alone. Issues like challenges posed by popularisation of the internet and the availability of information at netizens’ fingertips, aging population, economic restructuring, etc. Many countries in the world, including Singapore are facing the same issues. In fact in the 1980s, Singapore had already experienced economic slow-down and had to embark on economic restructuring in order to survive. How were we able to overcome these challenges and create unlimited opportunities with limited resources against the odds? These are experiences we are most willing to share with the rest of the world.
However, I must point out that, given the same issues and challenges, by virtue of the sheer size of the country and the population, China would experience them in greater magnitude, intensity and complexity, rendering the issues even more difficult to resolve. So today, we are indeed very glad to have with us the esteemed Tsinghua scholars to share with us informed perspectives and address key concerns surrounding ‘China’s future’. I believe the Symposium today will be both thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating.
It takes not merely one or two symposiums but continuous efforts to be better attuned to contemporary China. China with it’s vastness and the great spectrum of culture, to completely comprehend it is no mean feat, even the local Chinese cannot completely manage that. One of the most effective way is to personally visit the country, be with the locals and experience the culture. Last month, for the first time ever, Business China had successfully present in Shanghai, the inaugural Future China Business Forum, together with Shanghai-Singapore Business Association – Singapore Club Shanghai (SSBA-SCS). The Guest-of-Honour, Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore, and Board Adviser of Business China, had a highly rewarding conversation with some 200 business leaders in Shanghai, and explicated on the issues and challenges of doing business in Shanghai.
On top of that, the FutureChina Global Forum organised by Business China every year in Singapore, also provides an independent bilingual platform for global thought leaders in politics, business, foreign affairs, finance and the academia, to expound freely on topics that relates to navigating an ever-changing China. Into its third edition this year, the Global Forum was well attended by more than 1,000 top leaders from across the world.
In our bids to nurture bilingual and bicultural leaders of tomorrow, Business China has also been organising forums for local students, inviting outstanding personalities to speak on China-related topics, such as current affairs, latest popular trends, hot topics and lingo on Weibo and QQ, etc., so as to up Singaporean youths’ China-Quotient and gear them to be “China-ready” for future works or studies in China. We are indeed very delighted to see that for the past two years, more than 4,000 youths had benefited from and given positive feedbacks for the various events organised by Business China. This year as Business China celebrates our fifth anniversary, we are launching close to 60 different events, aimed at encouraging more locals to maximise their bilingual advantage and expand their horizons.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to continue in English.
Business China is both honoured and humbled by this collaborative opportunity to co-host the distinguished Tsinghua Scholars with the Civil Service College in this timely symposium. Timely, as the CCP had just announced the much anticipated 18th meeting where new leaders will be appointed, to be held on November 8th. Two days before that, on November 6th, United States will hold its Presidential Election. Great countries think alike!
China is a great country. It is a country where the leaders are visionary with also the will power and conviction to carry out the vision. In a short 30 years, it took the great leap forward to become the world’s 2nd largest economy. In 2011, when the rest of the world, especially the US and Europe were still shrouded in the gloom of a looming financial crisis, China scored an impressive 9.2% for its GDP growth. Even though the latest figures were less illustrious by China standards, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, during the Summer Davos Summit in Tianjin assured that the Chinese Government, through “structural modifications and shifts in developmental focus”, is confident of reaching the annual growth target of 7.5%.
The perplexing question now certainly becomes: whether the new Chinese leaders, soon to be appointed, share this vision and conviction? For that, even though I’m optimistic, I shall not pretend to be an expert and shall leave for our panel of very eminent and distinguish guest speakers to deliberate and elaborate.
I would however, like to encourage all of you to leverage on this symposium being a neutral and independent platform where frank opinions can be discussed and exchanged, to gain greater insights into the issues close to our hearts. And I hope the takeaways will outweigh your investments of time and effort this afternoon.
On behalf of Business China, my heartfelt appreciation to our colleagues at CSC, who share our vision to strengthen bilateral ties with China through multi-faceted programmes and activities with Mandarin as the main medium of communication, in bids to promote understanding and deepen engagements with our China counterparts.
Last but not least, I wish all of you an intellectually stimulating and socially invigorating session. Thank you.