Honourable Mr LEE Kuan Yew
Minister Lim Swee Say
Secretary-General Supachai
Ambassador WEI Wei
His Excellencies
Board advisers & members of Business China
Distinguished speakers and delegates
A very good evening.
I trust many of you would have had an interesting day, mulling over some of the thoughts shared by our speakers today. We are all drawn by China’s magnetism and its vibrancy – its fast changing role and prominence on the global stage.
Today, Singapore is a bustling gateway for this rising dragon. According to International Enterprise Singapore, China was Singapore’s second largest trading partner in 2010, with total trade rising more than 25% to S$95.3 billion. Singapore is also home to more than 3000 China enterprises that manage their businesses and support their growing customer base from here into the region. They leverage upon Singapore’s strategic market and network connectivity, quality telecoms infrastructure, as well as global talent to tap into new markets. In China, there are some 20,000 Singaporeans doing business, working or studying there, with about 10,000 Singaporeans living in and around Shanghai.
The ties between Singapore and China are deep, warm and friendly. It goes beyond trade and economics. Two other key ingredients bind our relationship, that is – language and culture. We have a growing pool of Singaporeans who are bilingual and China-savvy. With their ability to speak Mandarin, they are able to bridge the linguistic barrier and connect with their Chinese counterparts easily.
Sharing a common language opens up the door for a deeper appreciation and understanding of each other’s cultures. These China-savvy Singaporeans are culturally attuned to the trends, happenings and ever changing taste buds of the Chinese. It is Business China’s aim to grow and groom future generations of such Singaporeans. This is the vision of our patron, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He envisaged a bilingual and bicultural group of Singaporeans nurturing our multi-cultural heritage, and becoming a cultural and economic link for closer collaboration with China.
Tonight, we have the honour of Mr Lee Kuan Yew sharing with us his insights on China. He is well respected globally for his intimate knowledge of this nation. Our distinguished guest, Mr John Thornton, Chairman of the Board of The Brookings Institution, U.S.A, will join him in a dialogue. We have much to learn from their wisdom and experiences. I am confident their conversation will not only stimulate our current thinking about China, it will also challenge us to find new ways to engage this fascinating country.
I wish you all a very pleasant evening.