Transcript of Joint Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Beijing, 12 June 2017

Minister Wang Yi (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Just now I have met with the Foreign Minister of Singapore, we had an in-depth exchange of views and reached a consensus on our bilateral relations, international and regional issues and shared interests.

Minister Wang Yi (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Both of us are of the view that  in the face of the sluggish global economy and rising backlash against globalisation, China and Singapore, as champions of regional integration, need to work together to address the challenges and uphold our common interests and contribute more to regional peace and stability.

Minister Wang Yi (in mandarin)

Interpreter: The Belt and Road initiative has certainly created new prospects for further developing China-Singapore ties. Our two governments have already signed the memorandum of understanding and are working together to advance the initiative. Today, the Minister has agreed to our initiative that China and Singapore can build three platforms together under the Belt and Road initiative. Those three platforms are: the platform to boost connectivity cooperation; a platform to boost financial cooperation; and a platform to boost cooperation with third parties. First, on the connectivity cooperation platform, our two countries will make full use of the China-Singapore Chongqing Connectivity initiative as an important node to link the land and maritime Silk Roads and to form a connectivity network that covers both the land and the sea. We are fully confident that Singapore and other cooperation partners under the Belt and Road initiative will have an important role to play.

Second, on the platform for financial cooperation, as we all know, to advance the Belt and Road initiative we need a lot of the financing, and how to address the financial component will be an important task for all of us. Singapore is a key regional financial centre and also an important centre for our requirements. That is why we believe that, and we hope to have cooperation with Singapore to draw upon Singapore’s strength in the financial sector. We believe that by establishing a platform for financial cooperation, we will be able to meet the financial needs of developing the Belt and Road initiative.

Third, with regard to the platform for cooperation with third parties, which is of equal importance, Singapore is very strong in terms of managerial expertise and services, and China is strong in equipment manufacturing and relevant technologies. So we believe it is important for our two countries to draw upon each other’s strengths, to open up third party markets, beginning in our neighbourhood, for instance Southeast Asia and South Asia, and then further to Africa and other parts of the world. By building up these three platforms, we believe that we will not only be able to open up new prospects for China-Singapore cooperation, but also to deepen the “All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times” between our two countries.

Minister Wang Yi (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Singapore is currently the country coordinator for China-ASEAN relations, and will become the chair of ASEAN next year. That is why our discussions also covered China-ASEAN relations today. Both sides wholly recognise the tremendous achievements in China-ASEAN relations in the past few years, and that our initiatives on how to further advance China-ASEAN ties also received a positive response from the Minister and Singaporean side. We believe that it is important to first of all, build a closer community and shared future between China and ASEAN. To be more specific, we need to make good medium to long-term plans for the development of China-ASEAN ties and we need to ensure that we can build a stronger, more substantive and more influential upgraded strategic partnership between the two sides. Also we believe it is important to link up the Belt and Road initiative and the development plans of ASEAN to ensure that our practical cooperation can become more productive and upgraded. Also we believe it is important to together, shape regional integration. We need to achieve the urgent conclusion of the RCEP negotiations and work towards the agreed goal of achieving an East-Asian Economic Community. So all in all, we have confidence that Singapore will play a very positive and constructive role in this process. Thank you.

Moderator (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Now we will give the floor to Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

Minister Vivian: Thank you. First I want to express my appreciation for Foreign Minister Wang Yi for his wonderful hospitality. This is my fourth time meeting him this year and my second visit to Beijing this year.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We’ve had excellent discussions. We’ve reviewed both the state of bilateral relations as well as China-ASEAN relations.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: On the bilateral front, I am glad to report that China-Singapore relations are in good working order, are strong and has potential to grow even deeper and stronger.  

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: Singapore has been a believer in China’s rise. Singapore has been the largest foreign investor in China for the past four years. China is the largest trading partner for Singapore and we were both very intrigued by the statistics provided by China that as far as Belt and Road countries are concerned, one-third of China’s investments in Belt and Road countries have flowed through Singapore. Similarly, as far as inward investments into China from Belt and Road countries, eighty-five percent of that has been from Singapore. This illustrates the deep strength of our bilateral relationship.  

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We also reviewed the three Government-to-Government projects, namely that being Suzhou, the Tianjin Eco-city and the latest being the Chongqing Connectivity initiative. Both of us agree that all three projects have been very successful and each of them, in their own way, have contributed to China’s development as well as provided a possible model that other countries can work together with us to develop.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We’re glad that the negotiations to upgrade the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement are ongoing. In fact, the third round will be held in the next one or two weeks and we look forward to a positive conclusion of those negotiations.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We also had a very extensive discussion on the Belt and Road initiative. Singapore has been a strong believer and supporter in the Belt and Road initiative. We believe that there is a great need and demand for infrastructure and connectivity across Asia and also to connect Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe. This is a wonderful opportunity to restore, in a sense, these ancient trade links which connected these areas of civilisation in Asia and Europe. Singapore has always been a part of the Maritime Silk Road because of our location and this project now opens many opportunities, both for the private sector as well as the private sector assisted by government master plans. By creating a large zone of opportunity, we will also increase the prospects for peace and prosperity for people all over the world.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian:  I agree with Foreign Minister Wang that Singapore and China will work on these three platforms. The first platform being a high-level platform for connectivity, the second, to provide a comprehensive financial support platform and the third, platform for training and technology transfer.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We believe these three platforms will help catalyse the expansion and implementation of the Belt and Road initiative. It will help mobilise capital because a lot of capital will be needed in order to implement the connectivity and physical infrastructure needed for the Belt and Road and at the same time, it’s not just about money and hardware, but we also need to provide training, technology transfer - and this is an area where China and Singapore can work very closely together.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: Foreign Minister Wang and I also reviewed the ASEAN-China relationship and I think we both agreed that the relationship is stable, calm and positive right now.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We have settled or rather we have completed the negotiations for a framework for the COC. We have agreed on CUES – this is a Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea. We have also tested and operationalised the MFA-to-MFA hotline. These three measures are important confidence building measures and allows ASEAN and China to focus on the longer-term strategic development opportunities between our two areas.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: China and ASEAN have got very ambitious targets. We aim to increase bilateral trade in China and ASEAN to one trillion dollars a year and to increase bilateral investments to 150 billion US dollars. All this is supposed to be achieved by 2020, which is a very ambitious, stretched target. But the point is that it reveals the potential for this becoming one of the most important economic relations in Asia, connecting China to Southeast Asia.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: This will give us an opportunity to also formulate a longer term vision. We are going to call it the China-ASEAN strategic partnership Vision 2030 which will allow us to stretch our plans even further in the decade to come.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: We also agree to explore ways to make the Belt and Road initiative more complementary with ASEAN’s Master Plan on Connectivity.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: Singapore and China will also do our best to expedite the negotiations for the RCEP, that’s the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. At this point in time, we need to take a stand in favour of free trade and economic integration. The RCEP is an opportunity to link up an area which includes 45 percent of the world’s population, 30 percent of the world’s GDP. We can successfully conclude these negotiations quickly; it will be an important statement in favour of free trade and economic integration. At this point in time, it is more necessary than ever before.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: And finally, we also agreed to focus on increasing tourism flows between our two regions. Currently, about 20 million Chinese tourists visit Southeast Asia, and about 10 million tourists from Southeast Asia visit China.  We agreed that these numbers can be increased and expanded significantly, and we will look for ways to facilitate visas, encourage greater promotion of destinations and to encourage more people-to-people interaction. Because ultimately, the more we can get our people to meet, to interact, the more we can get our businessmen to meet each other and to be aware of opportunities across our region, the better, the stronger and more stable will be our relations.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Minister Vivian: So I want to thank Foreign Minister Wang Yi again for his wonderful hospitality, for our ability to work so well together. I think we could have read each other’s speeches and it would have been the same. So thank you, thank you.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Moderator (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Now I will ask a Chinese journalist to ask a question to the Foreign Minister of Singapore.

CCTV (in Mandarin)

Interpreter: I’m with CCTV. At the last round China and Singapore signed an MOU on commencing the Belt and Road initiative. So from a Singaporean side, what are your expectations for cooperation on this initiative?

Minister Vivian: Thank you for the question. We have very high expectations. As I said just now, the Belt and Road initiative is a historic opportunity. It’s a historic opportunity to expand the links between China, Central Asia and Europe, and also down south to Southeast Asia, including India, Australia and New Zealand. There is a great need for investment infrastructure and connectivity. And this is a wonderful idea, and that’s why Singapore has always been supportive and in fact been an early supporter of this concept. As I explained just now, we have to translate a vision into reality. This would require mobilising significant amount of funding, and that’s why for the suggestion by Minister Wang Yi on a platform for financial support, and because Singapore is a financial centre, this is an area where we can certainly make a contribution.

Secondly, there’s also a need for the infrastructure to be planned well, for tenders to be conducted, for due diligence to be done. These again are areas which require expertise, technical ability. These are areas where Singapore can also make a small contribution to catalyse this together. And as I said just now, this concept goes beyond just infrastructure and connectivity. It also is a chance to upgrade ourselves and we require technology transfer, we’ll require training opportunities, and this is again another area where Singapore and China - because we share a long history of collaboration and cooperation that has been successful, for instance, in the three government-to-government projects in Suzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing. This gives us an ability, in turn, to share these lessons, these experiences, with third countries, both in terms of training, technology transfer. And if you bear in mind that we are now living in an age where there’s a digital revolution, there’s a revolution going on in robotics, in artificial intelligence, logistics are going to be completely transformed as well. This is another area where China and Singapore can work together using these new technologies, apply it to create, really, a 21^st Century Belt and Road.

Also if you understand what we are trying to do in Chongqing, what we are proposing actually is to connect the land and the maritime Silk routes. And that connection, that North-South connection, will flow for instance, from Chongqing, to build a Southern Corridor to Beibu Wan, and then from there, ships can go down South through the Straits of Malacca and beyond. Or similarly, we hope in the long run that there will be a Kunming to Singapore railway. That again is another physical representation of a connection between the overland Silk route and the maritime Silk route. So all in all, as I was telling Foreign Minister Wang just now, this is a great opportunity but there’s also a lot of work to be done. But we do it right, we integrate our economies, we expand opportunities for our people and our businesses, we will create a large area, a large zone of peace and prosperity for our people. So that is why at the strategic level, there should be no question about support for this concept.

Interpreter (in mandarin)

Moderator (in Mandarin)

Interpreter: Now, I would like to ask the Singaporean journalist to ask a question to Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

LHZB (in Mandarin)

Interpreter: Well thank you very much, I’m with LHZB. My question is about the South China Sea. China and ASEAN senior officials agreed on the framework for the COC last month in the city of Guiyang.  So for the Chinese side, what are your expectations for the COC consultations in the months ahead, and when will the COC negotiations be completed? And also about Singapore-China cooperation, both bilaterally and also regionally, what would be the highlights, moving forward?

Minister Wang Yi (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Well may I first use this opportunity to respond to  the CCTV journalist’s question just now about China, and Singapore’s support and participation in the Belt & Road initiative. We are fully confident that with the very unique and strategic position of Singapore, Singapore is in an important position to play an important role in the Belt & Road initiative. And where China and Singapore work together, we will not only be cooperation partners in the Belt & Road, we will also be able to have more substance to our all-round cooperative partnership, and that will bring a lot of space for Singapore’s own development and also contribute to regional peace and development.  In the second part of the question, you asked me what would be the highlights of our cooperation. The Belt & Road, certainly, is one of the biggest highlights you can expect. We have very high expectations for our cooperation going forward.

Minister Wang Yi (in mandarin)

Interpreter: Well, now let me come to your question about the South China Sea. I would say the situation surrounding this issue has become stabilised thanks to the common efforts of China and ASEAN countries. One of the important achievements we have made throughout this process is that after working together, we have quite smoothly adopted the framework for the COC or have it scheduled. I think one of the important experiences we have gained from this process is that it is crucial to create a favourable environment and keep ourselves away from possible disruptions and interferences. This is the important prerequisite for the COC consultations to go forward.

In July last year, Foreign Ministries of China and ASEAN countries issued an important statement in which we stated our belief that the settlement of the specific disputes regarding the Nansha Islands must return to the track of being resolved by two countries directly concerned through dialogue and consultation. In addition, China in the previous years announced China-Philippines bilateral relations achieved a full turnaround. And the Philippines re-established its bilateral consultation mechanism with China on relevant issues. All these provided the necessary conditions for the smooth progress on the COC consultations. And I think to have consultations and to eventually announce the COC isn’t all that has been set forward in the DOC. It is also a commitment that China and ASEAN countries have jointly made.

So China and ASEAN countries have the ability to work together and to form this important set of regional rules on our own that will commit all ourselves to the peace and stability of the South China Sea. I believe that as long as the two sides demonstrate mutual trust, even cooperation, and keep away interferences from within and more likely, from beyond this region, after some necessary preparations, we will be able to begin substantive consultations on the text of the COC until we eventually agree on this important set of regional rules. We have every confidence in that. Thank you.

.    .    .    .    .