Asked about Singapore-China relations, the Prime Minister said they were “very good”. The two countries are in the midst of another review of their free trade agreement, with negotiations ongoing.
Mr Lee last met China’s President Xi Jinping in Bangkok last November, when the two leaders reaffirmed the countries’ close ties. Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan also made an official visit to Beijing last month.
Mr Lee said that while diplomatic relations between Singapore and China were established in 1990, cooperation began years before.
“There is trust and mutual understanding. We have our different perspectives on issues, but we work with one another, and we have been able to get very substantive projects going,” he added.
Government-to-government projects such as Suzhou Industrial Park, Tianjin Eco-City and the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative were cited as examples of a successful working relationship.
The latter fits in with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which Singapore sees as a way for Beijing to contribute to the development of the region and integrate into a regional network of cooperation and interdependence, said Mr Lee.
“The region needs infrastructure, the infrastructure needs financing. China is capable of doing that – of building infrastructure, it can also help to provide the financing, it can also develop the trade and economic links with the countries in the region.”
The Belt and Road Initiative provides a framework where this can be done, he added.
Singapore could contribute to the initiative by being the place where projects are evaluated and financing is obtained. As a centre for arbitration and mediation, Singapore, with its many international law firms, can also be where countries on Belt and Road schemes arbitrate issues or find legal expertise, the Prime Minister added.