WASHINGTON – Singapore’s rising stature as a flourishing tech hub with a knack for getting its geopolitics right has attracted notice in Washington.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was asked on Thursday how the city state manages to retain smooth ties with both the United States and China even as the techno-economic rivalry sharpens between the world’s two biggest economies.
One factor is the small trade-dependent nation’s focus on polishing its own competitive edge rather than being consumed by competition, Dr Balakrishnan said.
He was addressing an audience of top US and foreign policymakers, congressmen and Silicon Valley executives at the Global Emerging Technology Summit hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP).
Non-profit and non-partisan think-tank SCSP, led by former Google chief Eric Schmidt, sees China as having the potential to win the technology race and has called for the US to shore up its domestic manufacturing and tighten scrutiny of technology flows to China.
Dr Balakrishnan said: “Having two superpowers compete, that is competition. Having lots of small companies competing, that is competition. The real question is competitiveness. In Singapore, it is the latter that we are focused on.”
And the most important ingredient for competitiveness is people, he said.
“That means getting immigration policy right, getting education policy right, getting adult education right,” he added.
Asked to elaborate on how Singapore was shaping its immigration policies to attract the world’s best tech and venture capital firms, he credited the country’s logical and consistent policies as well as its diverse, open and confident population.
He said it helps that Singapore is “a small, very young nation. We’re multiracial, multilingual. We use English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil”.
“We are comfortable hearing different languages, smelling different foods, getting on with different cultures, and engaging in cultural and intellectual arbitrage. That helps – a confident, open, welcoming population,” he said.
He acknowledged that the influx of foreigners could sometimes stir up anxieties among Singaporeans, but said the country understands the need to remain open.
“That does not mean (that) from time to time we will not have political pushback against foreigners, against competition, against globalisation.
“But it helps that Singapore is so small, it’s so trade dependent and... we have to make a living by servicing the world, that everyone knows we need to remain open. That helps focus the mind.”
The other element is faith in meritocracy, said Dr Balakrishnan.
He said that if someone wants to enter Singapore and start a business or attend a university, that person must “show us what you are made of. Why are you more valuable than the next applicant in line?”
“And we have a long list of applicants in the queue,” he said, in a nod to Singapore’s status as a hub for tech giants like Google and Facebook as well as start-ups and venture capital funds.
Singapore is home to more than 4,000 tech start-ups, 400 venture capital firms, and 200 incubators and accelerators, according to the Republic’s Economic Development Board. It is also one of the biggest fund magnets in South-east Asia, attracting close to $700 million in tech start-up funding over the first quarter of 2023.
What also helps is having a Government that is tech-friendly, said Dr Balakrishnan.
“One key advantage is that my Prime Minister is a mathematician. And it used to be (that) more than half the Cabinet consisted of engineers. I’m a surgeon. So, when we talk to tech companies… they know we get it.
“Having a Cabinet and having a bureaucracy that gets it and is supportive of people with the skills, which just so happen to be in demand right now, is very helpful,” he added.
“However, it’s not all engineers. You do need people with artistic ability, people who are able to communicate, persuade, to resonate at an emotional level. The key is to construct teams with a multidisciplinary approach,” he said.
“If you ever wanted to assemble a multinational team consisting of Americans, Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, Indians, the easiest place in the world to assemble such a multiracial, diverse, elite group of talent ought to be Singapore.”
Speaking at the same event, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States must shape how new technologies are deployed.
“As emerging technologies stand poised to revolutionise the production of knowledge, rewire our economies, rearrange the building blocks of life itself, they’re also challenging the global competitive landscape,” he said.
“The United States must play a pivotal role in determining how these technologies are developed and how they’re used for years and decades to come.”
Other speakers included US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Japan’s Digital Minister Kono Taro.
Dr Balakrishnan and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Maliki Osman are in New York this week to attend the ongoing United Nations annual meetings.
On Thursday, Dr Maliki, who is also Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs, delivered Singapore’s national statement at the preparatory ministerial meeting for the Summit of the Future.
The meeting set the agenda for the 2024 summit, an initiative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Dr Maliki said: “Given the confluence of crises that we are facing today – from the triple planetary crisis relating to climate, food and water, to technological disruptions such as AI (artificial intelligence) – the window for action is narrowing and we must seize... the opportunity of the summit to do so.”
Also on Thursday, Dr Balakrishnan addressed the Forum of Small States at Singapore’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
He affirmed the grouping’s shared commitment to multilateralism and urged it to amplify its voice and help shape international norms.
The informal and non-ideological grouping of small states was established by Singapore in 1992. It now has 108 states as members.
On Friday, Dr Balakrishnan will deliver Singapore’s national statement at the UN General Assembly.
