Singapore minister on Myanmar coup: ‘difficult to conclude’ for now whether companies should pull out amid political crisis

At SCMP’s China Conference: Southeast Asia, Trade Minister Chan Chun Sing said that investments had helped create jobs and grow Myanmar’s economy
He called for the US and China to cooperate amid competition, and said Singapore would seek economic opportunities in the Greater Bay Area

Myanmar

Dewey Sim

Published: 2:58pm, 26 Feb 2021

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Singapore’s government is helping investors based in the city state make sense of the political crisis in Myanmar by providing them with updates on the unfolding situation, trade minister Chan Chun Sing said on Friday, adding that it was “difficult to conclude” at this point whether companies should reconsider their presence there.

He reiterated a point made by the Singapore government that many investments from the city state had taken place under the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi‘s National League for Democracy (NLD), and that these had benefited Myanmar’s citizens.

“Many of our investments go in there, create jobs for the Myanmar people to grow the economy and provide more opportunities for the people,” he said.

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Myanmar anti-coup protesters plan their largest mass rally yet after deadly clash with military

Chan made the comments at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia, when asked how Singapore firms should view developments in Myanmar and whether they should pull out of the country, a member of the 10-nation Asean bloc.

Singapore is ranked as the top source of foreign direct investment in Myanmar and other countries including China, India and Indonesia, as the financial hub has traditionally been a gateway for capital flows into those markets.

“From Singapore’s perspective, we will make available information that we know and share them with companies operating out of Singapore so that they can best make their own commercial decisions,” Chan said.

Myanmar, a country of 54.4 million, has seen a growing civil disobedience movement in defiance of the generals who seized power in a February 1 coup and detained elected leaders, including Nobel laureate Suu Kyi.

Myanmar protesters pressure Singapore to ‘stand for justice’

Since then, protesters have criticised Singapore’s links to the junta, which ruled for close to five decades until the NLD won a landslide election victory in 2015, and have also gathered outside the Singapore embassy in Yangon, demanding that the city state “be a good neighbour” and compel army chief Min Aung Hlaing to end the crackdown on protesters by security forces. They have also called for the boycott of Singaporean businesses in the country such as restaurant chains Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Crystal Jade Kitchen.

Meanwhile, Western nations led by the United States have imposed sanctions on generals involved in the coup, while members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – led by Indonesia – have kept channels of communication open with the junta and urged them to refrain from using violence on protesters.

Chan said he felt that companies who have operations in Myanmar would have known the risks and rewards involved, and made calculations and the “necessary adaptations”. While he did not refer to specific examples, Japan’s expanded economic presence in Myanmar has come under scrutiny since the coup, with beer maker Kirin recently pulling out of a joint venture that had ties to the junta.

Do India, Japan have leverage to pressure Myanmar’s military regime?

Tokyo has in recent years encouraged Japanese companies to expand their economic presence in Myanmar – seeing it as a way to balance the influence of China, which has funded multiple infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian nation under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative and is Myanmar’s largest trading partner.

During the 30-minute fireside chat, Chan also spoke about how Singapore would continue to invest in and cooperate with China.

On Thursday, Xu Ze, former deputy director of Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, called for Southeast Asian nations to seize opportunities in China’s Greater Bay Area plan – a project by Beijing to transform Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in the province of Guangdong into a financial and technological hub.

Chan said Singapore is working “very closely” with China and has, in past projects, tailored its economic engagement with different provinces according to their needs. He cited how one of Singapore’s earliest landmark projects with China, the Suzhou Industrial Park, evolved from a manufacturing park to one that now incorporates research and development as well as biomedical services.

Other government-to-government projects include the Tianjin Eco-City, envisaged as an environmentally friendly and resource-saving development.

“I think we will continue to evolve with the times,” Chan said. “We are constantly looking for opportunities to work with different parts of China, based on particular needs, based on the focus area. Our work in the Greater Bay Area will be no different. We will continue to seek opportunities to work with Greater Bay Area partners from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.”

The Singapore minister on Friday also outlined the challenges facing the world, warning that the global economy is at risk of becoming “increasingly distorted” by geopolitics.

Singapore and China eye deeper ties in Greater Bay Area project

He pointed to how challenges stemming from the pandemic had given rise to protectionist tendencies in many regions, and had come at the expense of global output and connectivity. “Instead of achieving more optimal global outcomes through greater interdependence, we risk moving towards fragmentation,” Chan said.

Ongoing US-China tensions have prompted Beijing to adopt a dual circulation economic strategy focused on domestic consumption and development while the US has urged its companies to be more self-reliant in supply chains. Asked about the impact of these developments on Southeast Asia, Chan stressed that both powers should cooperate even as they compete with each other, as they have much to contribute to the region.

“For Singapore, we will always advocate greater interdependence between trusted partners rather than autarky because that we think is a more resilient global system for all,” he said.

Indeed, countries such as Singapore that have benefited from economic integration should band together to uphold the global trading system, he said, suggesting this could come in the form of resisting protectionist measures and avoiding the imposition of tariffs. Given its open and connected economy, he said the city state has a “vested” interest in ensuring that the world steps up to manage such challenges.

Central bank says no ‘significant funds’ from Myanmar firms in Singapore

Singapore is also ramping up efforts to reinforce its position as a global business hub, Chan said, acknowledging that shutting itself off fully was not an option. One of the first steps the city state took was to allow essential business travel with like-minded countries, and more recently it has rolled out pilot programmes that would see business travellers congregate in Singapore for meetings at dedicated facilities, he said.

Asked about the World Economic Forum meeting set to be held in Singapore in August which could see thousands of foreign delegates flown in, Chan said risks had been evaluated and protocols would be in place.

Among which, he said that the authorities would encourage attendees to get vaccinated before arriving in Singapore, adding that there would be arrangements for delegates to mingle “freely and safely” within specific “bubbles” established for the forum.

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