Stanley Loh Ka Leung, Singapore's Ambassador to China, accepts Xinhuanet's interview on Nov. 17, 2017. (Xinhuanet/Zhou Xin)
by Zhou Xin
BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) — “Building a community with shared future for mankind” is congruent with what ASEAN’s vision of a “sharing and caring” community, said Singapore’s Ambassador to China Stanley Loh Ka Leung during a recent interview with Xinhuanet.
The ambassador shared his thoughts on the global significance of the 19th CPC National Congress concluded last month and how it can help boost bilateral ties between Singapore and China.
Loh said that all countries, including Singapore, are keenly interested in the Congress because major developments in China will not only affect China, but also the region and the rest of the world.
There are global-level challenges like climate change and pollution that require joint efforts to resolve, he noted. There are also specific regional hot spots like the situation on the Korean Peninsula that requires coordinated regional efforts.
He held that understanding the 19th CPC National Congress will help Singapore identify new areas for cooperation with China.
The two countries not only cooperate in traditional areas like investments, trade and tourism, but also share experiences in the modern areas, like social governance, rule of law, anti-corruption, he said.
The ambassador said that Singapore and China shared a commitment to supporting the multilateral trading system and making economic globalization “more open, inclusive and balanced so that its benefits are shared by all.”
“Singapore and China are both beneficiaries of a global trading system and liberalized economic system. We’re both determined to preserve such a system, so we have to work hard at it,” he said.
He also expressed Singapore’s interest to strengthen cooperation with China through the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Initiative is “not only about physical and tangible projects, but also about intangible aspects of development,” he said.
During the interview, he highlighted infrastructural connectivity, financial connectivity, third-party cooperation as well as judicial and legal cooperation, which are areas agreed on by the two countries’ leaders to advance China-Singapore cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
