SINGAPORE: Thirty years since its inceptionfbjili, the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park is more relevant than ever before in signalling China’s connection with the world amid a troubled geopolitical landscape, according to Mr Chan Chun Sing, the minister in charge of the project.
The project also simultaneously demonstrates how the world can build confidence in China, as Mr Chan, also Singapore’s education minister, pointed out in an interview with the media on Sep 26.
“We hope to see in Suzhou (Industrial Park) many ideas, industries, governance models, even how people live, that can be a role model for many parts of the world,” he said.
“And if we can do that, even in a fragmenting world, in a world where there are contesting blocs, this is, I think, a chance for China to demonstrate its contributions to the broader world.”
Mr Chan also touched on the future of Singapore-China cooperation, sharing that bilateral projects in another country are being explored as a possible next frontier. At the same time, he pointed out that collaborations can and should continue to go beyond inter-government tie-ups.
“There will always be opportunities for Singapore and China to work together ... precisely because we are quite different, both in terms of size, geography, resource base, history and so forth,” he said.
“Because we are different, but yet we share some common perspectives and shared objectivesfbjili, we can draw on each other's strengths.”
Suzhou Industrial Park is the first government-to-government project between Singapore and China.