Friendship heralds era of ever closer economic ties

With the development of friendly relations between Singapore and China, economic cooperation between the two countries is now expected to enter a new phase.

Singapore was the first Asian country to enter negotiations with China for a bilateral free trade agreement, which came into force in January 2009.

It has since boosted bilateral trade and investment by over 160 percent and 162 percent respectively, Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam said.

Singapore has been China's largest foreign investor for the past two years while China has been Singapore's largest trading partner since 2013.

Singapore's confidence in the future of China is best reflected in the continuous flow of its investment into China, Tan said at a state banquet held in honor of China's president Xi Jinping during his visit to Singapore last November.

"It is therefore fitting that, as we commemorate 25 years of diplomatic relations, our countries have agreed to launch a substantive upgrade of the China-Singapore FTA to prepare for the next stage of our economic cooperation," Tan was quoted as saying by the Straits Times. Tan said the upgrade will also pave the way for both countries to participate in regional economic frameworks.

Tan added that Singapore is also pleased to have participated "in modest ways" in China's modern economic development over the past three decades, which has "unlocked unprecedented levels of growth and development in the country and lifted millions of Chinese people out of poverty," he said.

A large number of Singapore companies have expanded their presence in the Chinese market in line with China's main growth areas including finance, logistics, real estate and healthcare, as well as a series of government-to-government cooperation projects.

For example, China's ageing population and the increasing levels of affluence in the country have created huge demand for better healthcare services.

International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said China's policy reforms, ageing population and more affluent and sophisticated consumers have created increasing opportunities for Singaporean companies to enter into the country's healthcare sector.

Companies have also entered other areas of the health care market, such as infrastructure, systems and solutions, including diagnostics devices and data analytic, said Lee Yee Fung, group director of the lifestyle business group in the government agency that helps Singaporean firms expand overseas.

"We expect the number (of companies) to increase in the coming years as China works to drive growth and efficiency in its healthcare sector," Lee told the Straits Times.

He said they had helped more than 30 Singaporean companies expand their presence in China's health care market, such as HistoIndex with its optical medical imaging equipment in Beijing and Hangzhou; Sincere Healthcare Group with its obstetrics and gynaecological services in Xiamen; and Dentalthon Medtech with its manufacturing plant in Guangzhou for invisible braces.

According to a report by Deloitte released in 2015, China's healthcare expenditure hit 3.2 trillion yuan ($491.8 billion) in 2013, quadrupling its 2003 value.

The report also forecasted the figure would nearly double to 6.2 trillion yuan by 2020. Singapore's largest private healthcare provider, Raffles Medical Group, plans to enter China's healthcare market and build hospitals in seven cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenzhen.

Kor Kian Beng contributed to this story.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/10/2016 page5)