Transcription
A senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong says Singapore must keep engaging China but on its own terms, wrapping up a five-day visit to Shanghai. He says China is moving quickly in areas like AI and robotics and Singapore has to understand those changes without losing sight of its interests. CNA’s time you go on reports from Shanghai.
Senior Minister Lee concluded his China visit in Shanghai with a meeting with Mayor Gong Zheng. But this trip was more than official meetings in Guangxi. The story was about connectivity.
"I was able to see for myself the progress on the teaching connectivity project in particular, the integrated international air and sea corridor and the poor logistics hop. I'm very happy that it's come to fruition, it's continuing to grow and has a long way to grow yet. But having started more than 10 years ago now, has some sense of satisfaction that it's been worthwhile and successful," he said.
Lee also met CPC Party Secretary Chen Gang and he’s brought a message with this. Singapore should keep deepening ties with China, but not because of ethnicity.
"We are a Chinese-majority country but we are a multi-racial society. We are a separate nation-state with separate sovereignty from China. We cooperate as friends in order to have mutual benefit, but it is because we both share common interests and not because we are both the same ethnic descent," he explained.
So Guangxi shows one side of the relationship, cooperation that's already taking shape through trade routes and logistics. Shanghai shows that the sides here. The question is what comes next.
In AI, robotics and Chinese technology companies are looking beyond China's domestic market. A humanoid robotics incubator in Shanghai said he saw prototypes being developed for commercial use. His takeaway: China’s apply AI quickly and Singapore to pay attention, not just to the technology but to how it is being used.
"And the Chinese actually using AI on very extensive, we, many of the apps integrate of the AI capabilities. So that's something I think we should learn from both parts, both leaning forward on applying it as well as thinking ahead for the impact on us and how we can best respond to it and prepare for the consequences," Lee said.
Singapore is not just about watching China's progress from the outside, but increasingly about how Chinese companies use Singapore as a base for growth. China with Singapore's largest source of fixed asset investment commitments in 2025, overtaking the U.S. for the first time. Lee says Singapore should keep engaging China, regulate to understand what is changing and to look for new areas of trade, investment and cooperation.
The Minister's takeaway from this visit is that China is moving fast. Singapore's to keep learning from it, keep working with it, always clear where its own interests lie. Time you go on, CNA, Shanghai.