Singapore eyes deeper Guangdong ties as China’s Greater Bay Area plan takes shape: minister

Singapore sees its engagement in the Greater Bay Area as a continuation of its long history of collaboration with China since the mainland’s reform and opening up, according to transport minister Ong Ye Kung, a member of Singapore’s fourth-generation team of leaders who has been tasked with building closer ties with China.

Ong, in an interview with This Week In Asia last Friday, said Singapore’s economic structure, talent base and capability complemented Beijing’s aims, and that the island nation had “always played a role” in China’s growth story. But as the Asian superpower entered a “new phase”, he said, Singapore needed to adapt so it could contribute gainfully.

“[We must] move with the times. The concept of collaboration is no longer the same,” he said, pointing to flagship ventures including the Suzhou Industrial Park, a 1994 project to jointly build a modern industrial estate, and the Tianjin Eco-city, where both governments looked at developing an environmentally friendly and resource-saving city. The most recent government-to-government project between the two countries is in Chongqing.

His remarks come as the city state’s investments continue to rise in the Greater Bay Area, a project unveiled last year by Beijing to transform Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in the province of Guangdong into a financial and technological hub.