Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed attended and delivered the keynote address for the opening session of the 7th Japan-Singapore Symposium (JSS) on 23 February. The JSS brings together a cross-section of Japanese and Singapore politicians, officials, academics and business representatives to meet regularly and discuss issues of common concern and is intended to promote closer ties between our younger leaders. The discussion focused on "The Roadmap towards an East Asian Community" and "The Challenges for Economic Integration and Sustainable Development in East Asia".
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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
23 FEBRUARY 2009
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KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS ZAINUL ABIDIN RASHEED AT THE 7TH JAPAN-SINGAPORE SYMPOSIUM, 23 FEBRUARY 2009, 10AM, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF JAPAN
JAPAN AND SINGAPORE: WORKING TOGETHER IN A CHANGING GLOBAL LANDSCAPE
Parliamentary Secretary Ito Shintaro
Your Excellencies
Distinguished Guests
1 Minna Sama Ohayo Gozaimasu (good morning, everyone).
2 I have travelled to this beautiful country many times, from my days as editor/journalist to my current role in government. In October 2006, I had the pleasure of attending the Singapore-Kagoshima Conference in Kagoshima and rekindling the Takushoku-NUS student programme. I fondly recall the visit to my favourite Nikko City and enjoying the Japanese ryokan and onsen. My last visit to Tokyo was in August 2007 when I attended the ASEAN-Japan Economic Relations Symposium in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of ASEAN.
3 So it is good to be back in Japan. Singapore-Japan relations are wholesome and cover many areas of interests.
A Changing Global Landscape
4 Ladies and Gentlemen, the value of the Japan-Singapore Symposium (or JSS for short) cannot be understated. It lies in the very opportunity that it provides, for the government and non-government representatives and officials of each side, to engage each other on the global transformation that is taking place.
5 When the last JSS was held in Singapore in 2006, it was practically a different world. Our region in particular was experiencing a period of significant economic growth and the air was abuzz with talk of prosperity. The discussions then on "The Modernisation of Asia" and on "Building an East Asian community" reflected an optimism widely felt at the time.
6 The situation has changed dramatically since. Today, we are caught in the centre of a global economic shutdown. In fact, some might even argue that we are only at the beginning of what could potentially be a protracted crisis.
7 Although the current downturn was triggered by the financial crisis in the US, virtually no region nor country and no sector is immune to the ill-effects. Certainly not the economies of East and Southeast Asia which are so highly dependent on trade with the US and Europe.
8 Indeed, what we are witnessing today could well be described as the "recoupling" rather than "decoupling" of the US and global economy. Of course, this poses many difficult questions about the US-centric global economic and financial system. There are no straight solutions in sight, and the debate has only just begun.
9 In less than four days time, the ten leaders from ASEAN will be meeting in Hua Hin, Thailand. In April, the G20 and the East Asia Summits will convene in London and Hua Hin respectively.
10 In the coming months, policy makers will have to grapple with a range of important issues that will significantly shape the global landscape. Issues such as:
- Whether there should be a more diversified currency system;
- The merits and demerits of greater regulation over the international financial system;
- Should the G8 be expanded into a G13 or G20 Summit;
- Or how can a new economic and financial infrastructure better reflect the strategic and economic weight of emerging economies like Brazil, China and India;
- How can the US and the Western economies, who are themselves struggling to cope with the current downturn, help the rest of the developing world; and so forth.
11 If the world can come together and find the right answers, then there is a good chance that this economic crisis could very well create new frameworks and structural arrangements that will yield fresh and exciting opportunities for both the developed and developing world alike. My concern is that countries may arrive at the wrong conclusions and adopt misguided economic policies that will do more harm than good.
National Responses
12 This year's JSS, the seventh of its kind, must therefore discuss how Singapore and Japan should respond to the harsh realities on our horizons.
13 Part of the answer, of course, lies with what we are doing in our own country. Japan and Singapore have picked up valuable lessons from past recessions - the oil crisis of the 1970s, the bubble of the 1980s, Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, the SARs crisis of 2003, etc. We understand the importance of swift responses to extraordinary challenges.
14 As the world's second-largest economy, I believe Japan has the wherewithal to weather this latest economic storm. Japan's fiscal stimulus measures, totalling more than US$800 billion, should boost domestic consumption and assist its many companies struggling to stay afloat. After all, the fundamentals for Japan remain sound: the Japanese workforce ranks among the world's best, and Japan is an industry leader in terms of cutting-edge technologies.
15 Singapore too has launched a S$20.5 billion Resilience Package containing measures aimed at helping companies to preserve jobs, stimulating bank lending, improving companies' cash flow through lower corporate taxes, helping households through personal income tax rebates, and bringing forward infrastructure spending plus health and education improvements.
16 Like Japan, Singapore's fundamentals remain sound. This is why even as ride out the recession, we are also taking proactive measures to position Singapore as an attractive destination to live, work and play.
The Bigger Picture
17 Indeed, while it would be unwise to be unrealistically optimistic, there is also no reason for us to adopt a defeatist attitude. As I mentioned earlier, we have gone through tough times before. But let's not forget that we have emerged stronger and wiser after each crisis.
18 There is another reason why I am reasonably upbeat. And that is, Japan and Singapore are located within a dynamic region, one that offers many exciting growth opportunities.
19 The longer term prospects are promising. China and India are projected to continue on a growth path. The IMF, for instance, projects that China and India will grow by 6.7 percent and 5.1 percent respectively in 2009. And so will the Gulf States and Southeast Asia as a region, notwithstanding the current economic slowdown.
20 If the centre of gravity is shifting to Asia, then I believe Asia's boom can be ASEAN's boon by virtue of the many longstanding intra-regional economic and sociocultural linkages. To benefit, ASEAN would need to first, function more effectively as a regional organisation; and second, move decisively towards greater regional integration. This would require tremendous political will on the part of each ASEAN member, especially in the face of occasional unexpected setbacks and domestic resistance.
21 In this regard, it is heartening to note that ASEAN has embarked on several important initiatives. These include the ASEAN Charter, which entered into force in December 2008, and the Blueprint for the ASEAN Economic Community (signed during Singapore's ASEAN chairmanship in 2007), which will change the way business is conducted in Southeast Asia by 2015.
22 The ASEAN Economic Community will be further complemented by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA), currently being negotiated between ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Once signed, CEPEA will bring East and Southeast Asia even more closely together than where we are today.
23 It would be remiss of me if I did not mention that CEPEA was first initiated by Japan. Indeed, Japan has played a constructive role in supporting ASEAN's development and integration efforts through various initiatives such as the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP), which took effect in December 2008, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) to name a few. ERIA, in particular, has the potential to come up with useful policy recommendations to help further regional integration and strengthen partnerships in East Asia.
24 Beyond economics, Japan has also proposed greater security cooperation through the ASEAN-Japan defence track. I understand that the ASEAN-Japan Senior Defence Officials will be meeting next month in Tokyo to discuss important issues such as maritime security, disaster relief and so on. May I add that Japan is also well-placed to cooperate with ASEAN in non-traditional security areas such as dealing with pandemic diseases.
25 I do not need to persuade this distinguished audience why ASEAN would very much like Japan to stay actively engaged as I would only end up stating the obvious. We all know why Southeast Asia and Japan are strategically important to each other and how our economic fortunes are closely tied together.
26 But let me just say that if we are to overcome this mega economic crisis before us, Japan's leadership role in this part of the world is arguably even more crucial now than ever before.
27 Japan has important lessons to share with the international community, given its experiences in dealing with the banking sector's bad loans in the 1990s. In this regard, I am glad that Japan has already come forward with several ideas, such as the IMF's Short-Term Liquidity Facility, which established quick-disbursing financing for countries with strong economic policies that are facing temporary liquidity problems in the global capital markets. Prime Minister Aso had also announced Japan's readiness to loan up to US$100 billion to the IMF.
28 In addition, Prime Minister Aso's announcement at last month's World Economic Forum in Davos of an US$100 million aid package to help Asian countries enhance their growth potential was a timely and constructive initiative. Singapore welcomes such proactive and constructive initiatives by Japan, and I am sure the same could be said of the other Asian countries as well.
Working Together
29 Our two countries have over the years built up an exemplary track record of working closely together for mutual benefit. Singapore was Japan's first FTA partner. Another example is the Japan-Singapore Partnership for the 21st Century which we launched in 1994 and updated in 2007 (through the Enhanced JSPP21 Memorandum of Discussion) to provide technical assistance to third countries. We share a common strategic outlook on maintaining an open and inclusive regional architecture in this region centred around ASEAN.
30 The challenge, of course, is to constantly find new ways to enhance this close level of cooperation. I would like to offer some ideas on how we can do so.
31 First, the immediate priority has to be the economic crisis. Our two countries have been working closely on the multi-lateralisation of the Chiang Mai Initiative, which is expected to be launched later this year. It is in our common interest to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays.
32 As trade-dependent nations, it is also in our interest to resist any revival of protectionism. It is important that Japan and Singapore continue looking outwards even if the temptation or natural inclination of many countries is to look inwards during times like these. We need to muster up the political will to conclude the Doha Round, the current pessimism surrounding its immediate resuscitation notwithstanding. We are however delighted that the recent G-7 meeting in Rome has resoundingly rejected protectionism as the way forward.
33 Second, even as we address the immediate challenges, we must not lose focus of longer-term economic priorities. The Regional Economic Integration (REI) agenda has to be advanced.
34 One of the platforms we can focus on is APEC. Let me elaborate since Singapore is the current APEC Chairman of this year. Regional economic integration is one of our key priorities for the year. It is the raison d'être of APEC, and has gained even greater importance in the face of the global economic crisis. At the first APEC Senior Officials' Meeting in Singapore last week, Senior Officials agreed that APEC's best contribution to sustaining growth in the Asia-Pacific region would be through accelerating regional economic integration.
35 Japan and the US will chair APEC in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Our consecutive chairmanships will provide us with an opportunity to advance APEC's agenda, especially in accelerating trade and investment liberalisation, improving the business environment and enhance physical connectivity, with a view to further cutting down business costs.
36 Japan's chairmanship of APEC in 2010 also coincides with the first milestone for the Bogor Goals. At their meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994, APEC Leaders endorsed a vision of open trade and investment within the Asia Pacific region by 2010 for developed member economies and 2020 for developing member economies. Singapore and Japan will be working closely to use this opportunity to demonstrate APEC's leadership and vision in promoting trade liberalisation and reform.
37 Third, we can double our efforts to promote sustainable development. When Singapore held the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2007, Singapore decided to focus on the theme of "Environment, Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development". We followed up by hosting the inaugural EAS Liveable Cities Conference, Singapore International Water Week and the World Cities Summit last year.
38 I hope Japan can continue to support our efforts. Japan after all has invaluable lessons to share with Asian countries on how to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels without compromising economic growth. The Bali Action Plan (BAP) initiated in 2007 is an important process addressing the Climate Change issue. With the negotiations for the post-Kyoto framework scheduled to be concluded by the end of this year at the COP-15 in Copenhagen, both countries should brainstorm how regional countries can be assisted to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency, and ultimately cut down on their carbon emissions.
39 I am confident that the discussions at the JSS over the next two days will offer other interesting insights and ideas on how Singapore and Japan can navigate through the many challenges before us and emerge as stronger partners.
40 On this note, I wish everyone an intellectually stimulating and productive symposium.
41 Arigatou Gozaimasu (Thank You)
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