On 31 July 2019, Business China Chairman and the Member of Parliament (MP)for East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Mr Lee Yi Shyan shared his perspectives on “Global Trade Wars: New Frontiers for the Singapore Economy” at an exclusive dialogue session organised by the Business Leaders Alumni Club (BLAC).
During the dialogue session, Mr Lee outlined the historical background of the two economic superpowers – US and China. He explained the ideological and political differences between both countries that could have led to the current trade war. While recalling interesting anecdotes from his friends in US and China about the trade war, he shared his personal view on how the trade war may pan out. There are challenges in the internationalisation journey of SMEs in face of the trade war that had disrupted the global trade and supply chain. As the trade war intensifies, he highlighted that more companies would turn to ASEAN market. Singapore companies need to understand and know our ASEAN market in order to remain relevant to the outgoing Chinese companies and the world.
The dialogue was well-received by the audience with streams of interesting exchanges on a wide variety of hot-button issues including the US election next year, the underlying issues of Hong Kong protests, the pro-business environment in Singapore, the relevance of Singapore as well as the impact of trade war on ASEAN and the region.
As a gesture of appreciation, Mr Danny Lien, BLAC Chairman presented a token of appreciation to Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Chairman of Business China.
The dialogue session, attended by nearly 40 BLAC members, was moderated by Professor Annie Koh, Vice President of Business Development, V3 Professor of Family Entrepreneurship and Professor of Finance (Practice) at Singapore Management University.