Digital

Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung delivered the keynote speech entitled "Youths – Bridge Between East and West, Pivot Between Present and Future" at the Lianhe Zaobao Singapore-China Forum 2023 held in Beijing on 21 November. He spoke about issues affecting the youths of today — whether in China or Singapore — noting that while they have big issues to tackle, they still have much to look forward to in this pivotal moment in history. This is the English version of his keynote address delivered in Mandarin.

A broader depression has been weighing on the country’s supermarket sector, especially for big-box retailers that are fighting the rising tide of competition from online shopping platforms and smaller physical stores.

Several coffee and tea brands from mainland China, such as Heytea, Mixue, ChaGee and Luckin Coffee, have recently entered Singapore and expanded rapidly. In addition to injecting new vitality into the already-diversified local beverage market, these beverage giants have also brought in their innovative technologies in operations, product development and customer experience. Lianhe Zaobao senior features writer Wang Hwee Wen finds out how these digital innovations from Chinese companies will change the local food and beverage scene in Singapore.

Chinese companies have gotten creative in their recruitment process since the Covid-19 pandemic eased. Companies can now hit a bigger pool of talent at low cost by livestreaming job vacancies, while job seekers, especially blue-collar workers, can easily send in their resumes at a click of a button. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Zeng Shi looks at how the job market is changing due to this innovative channel.

Malaysian academic Goh Chun Sheng ponders the weighty issues thrown up by artificial intelligence, seeking a little assistance from none other than OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Researcher Ding Ke looks at the US’s Chip 4 alliance initiative and its implications for China’s semiconductor industry. With the US seemingly intent on containing China’s high-tech industries, it will take a lot of effort for China to keep this sector going and growing, especially if the Chip 4 alliance works out.

Taking an overview of global megatrends, including rising inflation, changes to business valuation and the race for technological supremacy, Indonesian business magnate Ang Tjoen Ming (Tahir) sieves out opportunities for Indonesia, and ways forward that could see it becoming one of the world’s seven largest economies in the next ten years.

Amid the frequent refrain of building a digital civilisation in China, Chinese academic Zhang Tiankan warns of the natural progression assumed in digital progress leading to greater civilisation. Innovations such as facial recognition technology or human tracking devices are placed in the hands of man and can be used for good or evil.

While it appears that large digital platforms in China have been hit hard by a series of regulatory reforms in the last few years, they are down but not out, says researcher Jia Kai.