PM Lee confident TPP can be done by early 2015
Small issues remain and all countries need to make push in final stretch
By Rachel Chang, In Beijing, The Straits Times, 10 Nov 2014
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong has expressed confidence that the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal can be completed by early next year, as media reports said it is set to miss its year- end deadline.
Small issues remain and all countries need to make push in final stretch
By Rachel Chang, In Beijing, The Straits Times, 10 Nov 2014
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong has expressed confidence that the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal can be completed by early next year, as media reports said it is set to miss its year- end deadline.
"If not this year, then we should be able to make it early next year," Mr Lee said here last night. "There are some small issues remaining but everyone knows it's the last 100m. We need to make a push."
Mr Lee was attending a gala dinner to celebrate Singapore property giant CapitaLand's 20th anniversary of operations in China and was asked during a dialogue about the high-standard trade pact. The TPP has missed several deadlines for completion as countries such as Japan have baulked at removing agriculture sector protection.
This morning, Mr Lee is scheduled to attend talks at the United States Embassy with leaders of the other 11 TPP countries.
This morning, Mr Lee is scheduled to attend talks at the United States Embassy with leaders of the other 11 TPP countries.
Hopes had been high for a breakthrough at the session, but US Trade Representative Michael Froman yesterday ruled out any "major announcement".
Leaders of the 21-member APEC grouping are gathered in Beijing for the annual summit.
Asked by media group Caixin's chief editor Hu Shuli last night if US President Barack Obama's Asia visit would spur a breakthrough, Mr Lee replied in Mandarin that "to push TPP forward, you don't need to come to Asia".
"TPP's problems are domestic factors in each country," he said. "Can you persuade domestic sectors to accept greater foreign competition? With this, you have the chance to enter other countries' markets, and consumers also benefit. So the decisive factor for the TPP is whether each country can make the decision and say, we will seize this. It is hard to do, but we hope we can do it."
There is also significant domestic resistance in the US to the trade deal, but Mr Obama has made its completion a priority for his trade agenda.
Mr Lee also voiced support for a Free Trade Area for the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), a broader goal that China is pushing at this year's APEC. Its establishment would spur the lowering of trade barriers in Europe and the US, because it is the nature of trade agreements to build in momentum, he said.
He noted APEC itself was established 25 years ago because the then General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), a global trade body, was mired in disagreement. APEC's creation spurred countries to complete Gatt negotiations, he said.
He noted APEC itself was established 25 years ago because the then General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), a global trade body, was mired in disagreement. APEC's creation spurred countries to complete Gatt negotiations, he said.
Earlier in the day, Mr Lee met Chinese President Xi Jinping on arriving in China.
Calling Singapore a country that has "created one miracle after another" in its development, Mr Xi told Mr Lee that Sino-Singapore ties have always been one step ahead of China's ties with other ASEAN countries.
The two countries are exploring a third government-to-government project in China's western region, and Mr Xi said China would respect Singapore's views on what the project would entail and where it would be located.
Mr Lee congratulated Mr Xi on China's hosting of the 25th annual APEC summit and on "steering the meeting towards a substantive outcome".
China and Singapore will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year. Mr Xi is scheduled to make a state visit to Singapore as will Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam, to China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that during their 30-minute meeting, Mr Xi and Mr Lee also exchanged views on the situation in Hong Kong as well as regional and international developments.
At the dialogue, Mr Lee addressed Singapore's joining of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new China-led multilateral lending institution that will support infrastructure investment in developing Asian countries.
US pressure reportedly got countries such as South Korea, Australia and Indonesia to stay away from the AIIB.
Asked if Singapore was concerned that it is one of just a few rich countries to sign on to the AIIB, Mr Lee said that Singapore would have joined the AIIB regardless of its stage of development.
"AIIB has value because developing countries need huge amounts of infrastructure investment," he noted, adding that Indonesia is likely to join the bank and that South Korea and Australia have not ruled out membership.
CapitaLand 'to continue China journey'
By Rennie Whang And Rachel Chang, The Straits Times, 10 Nov 2014
By Rennie Whang And Rachel Chang, The Straits Times, 10 Nov 2014
The developer is on track to complete 50 projects across Asia in the next three to four years, worth a total of about $36 billion on completion. More than half of them will be in China.
Speaking at a gala dinner in Beijing to celebrate the firm's 20 years in China, Mr Lim said CapitaLand is targeting 12 new integrated developments in Asia over the next three years, about half of which will be in China.
In his speech, he recalled the firm made its first foray into China during the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The building of Raffles City Shanghai, then the largest single investment made by a Singapore firm in China, was successful, and it became a bellwether for CapitaLand's operations there.
"We feel duty-bound to provide a platform for the joint development of China and Singapore," said Mr Lim.
The celebrations included a China-Singapore Economic Development Dialogue, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as guest of honour and keynote speaker.
Mr Lim said CapitaLand will continue to sharpen its focus on five city clusters: Beijing and Tianjin; Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Ningbo; Guangzhou and Shenzhen; Chengdu and Chongqing; and Wuhan.
"Strong bilateral ties have helped pave the way for CapitaLand's growth in China in the past two decades," he said.
"We were among the first few foreign real estate firms to enter the market, (and) have since progressed in tandem with China's urbanisation and development."
He said the company will invest further in well-located sites there to grow its pipeline of integrated developments, shopping malls and commercial and residential developments. "We will continue to actively contribute to China's economic reform and sustainable development," he said.
About 300 guests, including senior government officials, bankers, business leaders and industry experts, attended the gala dinner and dialogue.
A FREE Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) will not only be an economic boon but also have the strategic function of giving regional economies "a stake in each other's success", thereby fostering peace, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.
Economic, strategic gains of free trade area 'worth pursuing': PM Lee
By Rachel Chang In Beijing, The Straits Times, 12 Nov 2014
By Rachel Chang In Beijing, The Straits Times, 12 Nov 2014
While acknowledging that "watertight proof" of its benefits has not yet been marshalled - and that it would be challenging to realise a vast free trade area in the face of political sensitivities among some Asia-Pacific economies - he said at a meeting with 20 other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders that it was a goal worth pursuing.
And speaking to the Singapore media after leaders endorsed a road map towards the FTAAP at the end of their annual summit, Mr Lee said that host China had done the 21-member APEC a favour by pushing the initiative.
"I think the Chinese naturally see this as beneficial to themselves, otherwise they would not consider it. But it's also beneficial to other countries. Otherwise it would not be resonant, it would not be picked up and we would not be able to move ahead.
"The FTAAP is not a Chinese idea. This is an idea which was there at the beginning. It was the reason why we created APEC back in 1989."
Beijing originally hoped to set a date of 2025 for FTAAP's realisation, but reportedly backed down from a concrete target in the face of United States reluctance to shift focus away from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
Asked about Singapore's considerations given its involvement in the TPP and FTAAP - seen as arenas for rivalry between the US and China - Mr Lee said Singapore is a good friend of both.
He dismissed talk of rivalry between the TPP and FTAAP, noting that TPP nations do not rule out China joining in the future. Nor does China rule out joining them.
It is not political rivalry that prevents China from joining the TPP, but that its economy will need some time to develop to the stage where it can meet the pact's high standards, he explained.
US President Barack Obama has clearly stated Washington's support for the FTAAP to other APEC leaders, he added.
Mr Lee said bilateral sensitivities between countries like China and Japan are an argument in favour of having the FTAAP.
He had, during the meeting of APEC leaders, said that "a regional FTA (free trade agreement) like the FTAAP may well offer a more neutral framework within which to foster free trade and win-win cooperation than bilateral FTAs".
While it is at least 10 years in the making, he said the FTAAP is the "next logical step" for the grouping after regional trade pacts like the TPP and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership are completed.
Singapore and other regional economies want to participate in China's rise and benefit from it, Mr Lee said, adding that he welcomes China's efforts to show it can "be helpful" to the region, such as by establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to lend to developing countries for their infrastructure needs.
Such moves will help Beijing extend its influence and soft power.
But China must also manage and contain its territorial disputes in the South China Sea with Japan and some Asean countries and prevent this from souring its overall ties or affecting security and confidence in the region, he told reporters. "Then all the infinite possibilities will be realised," he said, echoing a phrase Chinese President Xi Jinping used at the summit to illustrate the "Asia-Pacific Dream".
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