SINGAPORE – It may have been the namesake of the fictional paradise in British author James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, but the Shangri-La Dialogue was anything but.
New Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s debut address at the key annual security forum might have assured allies the Indo-Pacific remains its “priority theatre”, pledging to prevent war and deter aggression so that “shared interests align for peace and prosperity”.
But it also raised more than a few eyebrows among those gathered in Singapore this weekend.
SINGAPORE – French President Emmanuel Macron urged Asia and Europe to work together in a new coalition based on common principles to push back against the inevitability of being caught between global superpowers.
Singling out the China-US rivalry as the biggest risk confronting the world, the French leader said he wants to be able to cooperate with the US at the same time as compete with but not confront China – while adopting a “demanding approach” that puts France’s interests first.
In expanding on the French doctrines of “strategic autonomy” and “freedom of sovereignty” to a gathering of global leaders at a pre-eminent security forum in the Asia-Pacific, President Macron sketched out a plausible “third way” for Europe and the rest of Asia amid significant shifts in the world order and a world beset by multiple crises.
“The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so,” Mr Macron said in his keynote address at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30.
By Clement Tan | March 28, 2025 | The Straits Times
LUXEMBOURG – Singapore will need to stay predictable and stable, while building deep expertise in some areas, to thrive in a changing world rife with uncertainties, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
He was speaking to Singapore media towards the end of his six-day trip on state visits to Belgium and Luxembourg. Other than national leaders, he also met business leaders in Belgium from sectors ranging from offshore engineering to biomedical technology and sustainability, as well as financial sector leaders in Luxembourg.
“One thing that comes across very strongly in all the conversations we’ve had is that it is critical for us, as small countries especially, to be predictable, to be stable, and to always hold to our side of the bargain,” President Tharman told reporters.
“Singapore is not the cheapest place in Asia to do manufacturing or build ships or anything else, but their companies are making investments for the long term, and for them, it’s predictability and trust in Singapore that brings them to Singapore,” he said.
The first state visits by a Singapore leader to Belgium and Luxembourg come amid significant shifts in the world, with the Trump administration upending longstanding US commitments to the post-Cold War order and imposing trade tariffs on its closest allies.
By Clement Tan | March 24, 2025 | The Straits Times
BRUSSELS – Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde received President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his spouse, Mrs Jane Ittogi Shanmugaratnam, at the Royal Palace on March 24, marking the start of the first state visit by a Singaporean leader since bilateral relations were established nearly 59 years ago.
Arriving in a Mercedes-Benz car at the front plaza of the palace, flanked by members of the Belgian Royal Escort on horses and motorcycles, Mr Tharman inspected the military guard of honour before being ushered into the palace.
He also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, built in memory of Belgian soldiers who died during World War I, and met Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
President Tharman and Mr De Wever reaffirmed the longstanding ties between Singapore and Belgium, and discussed the strengthening of collaboration in areas such as maritime, innovation and sustainability.
With Trump 2.0 tariffs lurking on the horizon, that was the common refrain invoked by several world leaders visiting Singapore this week, in asserting the idea that smaller economies have the power to act for themselves to mitigate the fragmenting effects of the rivalry among great powers such as China and the US.
In the Asia-Pacific, that could well mean increasing regional trade to ensure economic stability. South-east Asia as a bloc is expected to be the world’s fourth-largest economy after the US, China and India by the end of this decade.
“In the context of intense pressure on the global trading system, our region has agency,” Mr Don Farrell, Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism, said on Dec 2 in an address at the annual Next Step (Solutions to economic problems) Global Conference. It was organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“In 2025, it will be incumbent on those of us who understand the benefits of global trade rules to actively engage in support of the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its core,” he added.
By Clement Tan | Sept 30, 2024 | The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – Governing leaders should prepare to navigate a complex world order with three superpowers in ways that may enhance their own positions and interests.
That was the frank assessment of former British prime minister Tony Blair in an interview with The Straits Times on Sept 23, while he was in Singapore for the annual Asia Summit of American think-tank Milken Institute.
“You have got to decide where your country fits in the world, because it is going to be a world that is going to be multipolar, (where there) will be, in my view, by the middle of this century, three superpowers effectively: America, China and probably India,” said Mr Blair, who is a self-professed centrist.
“Therefore, you are going to have to build strong alliances that enable you to talk to these three superpowers with some level of, you know, equality,” he added.
Japan’s central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday for the first time since 2007, ending the world’s only negative rates regime and other unconventional policy easing measures enacted over the course of the last few decades to combat deflation.
These changes mark a historic shift and represent the sharpest pull back in one of the most aggressive monetary easing exercises in the world. The BOJ’s actions also precede the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later this week.
“The likelihood of inflation stably achieving our target has been heightening … the likelihood reached a certain threshold that resulted in today’s decision,” BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said at a press conference after the central bank’s decision, according to a translation provided by Reuters.
Japan is stepping up efforts to ensure its listed companies become more efficient with capital allocation and increase shareholder returns this year.
The operator of Tokyo’s stock exchange will release Monday, its first monthly list of public companies that have shared their plans for optimizing capital management to enhance returns for their investors.
The Japanese government and the TSEalso have plans in the works for increasing corporate board independence and female representation.
“It’s not just the Tokyo stock exchange, but the entire Japan government is pushing for better corporate governance right now,” said Toru Yoshikawa, a business professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange is entering into its second year of corporate governance reforms, kickstarted in March last year, by directing listed companies whose shares are trading below a price-to-book ratio of one — an indication it may not be using its capital efficiently — to “comply or explain.”
NEW DELHI — Even for those accustomed to the ebbs and flows of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship, the sight of President Joe Biden extending a handshake to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the recent G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi was quite the turnaround.
After all, Biden had warned last October of “consequences” after the Saudi-led oil cartel OPEC decided to cut crude production and boost prices amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia’s double dipping underscores the range of economic and strategic opportunities that abound for the various economies caught between the dueling U.S. and China as they build their own alliances and spheres of influence. U.S. and other major Western nations have been keen to “de-risk” their economic — and not decouple — from China on grounds of national security.
This is also consequently leading to a fragmentation of the world’s economy as protectionism and nationalism impede global trade, while giving rise to a complex matrix of relationships in a multipolar world that are not always straightforward as nations pursue their self interests.
NEW DELHI — The Group of 20 nations on Saturday overcame differences in references to the war in Ukraine, reaching a consensus on a joint declaration that paves the way for frameworks on debt resolution, and country-specific climate financing solutions among other pledges aimed at enhancing development in the Global South.
In an 83-paragraph joint communique aimed at deepening the integration of the needs of developing economies into the multilateral forum’s agenda, the Delhi declaration omitted words from the last year’s statement that overtly condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine — instead highlighting the human suffering and other negative impacts of the war in Ukraine that have complicated recovery efforts in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The wording of “most members strongly condemned the war” was among the changes. Instead, G20 member states agreed to lean on the tenets of the United Nations charter on territorial integrity and against the use of force.
“Considerable time was spent — especially in the last few days — in regard to geopolitical issues, which really centered around the war in Ukraine,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankarsaid Saturday at a press conference following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initial announcement of the consensus on a joint declaration.
