World order

Singapore Minister for Education and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing gave the keynote address during the 9th Singapore-China Forum on Leadership in Beijing on 12 September 2023. Minister Chan noted the importance of taking stock and exchanging notes on how countries’ approaches to governance must evolve as both the internal and external environment change, and stressed that facing the new challenges of the modern world requires cohesive leaders who work well together, not only within the government and with the people, but also with businesses and globally with international partners. Here is the edited transcript of his speech.

Heng Kim Song has been the freelance editorial cartoonist

It would be a mistake to think that the soon-to-be 11-member BRICS would unite to become a formidable coordinating force at the international level, says Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong.

Voices discussing the expansion of the BRICS are getting louder, leading up to the meeting of BRICS foreign ministers to be held this week in Cape Town. While China sees possible expansion of the BRICS as a useful development in growing its influence, other members of BRICS like India may view it with mixed feelings. ISAS academic Amitendu Palit explains.

At the G7 summit in Hiroshima from 19-21 May, the topics in focus are set to be China's impact on the world, as well as the Russia-Ukraine war. It is clear that every nation is trying to maximise its interest and chance for influence and survival in a state of global flux. Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong looks at the anticipated discussions of the G7 meeting.

Currently, deglobalisation and efforts to decouple from China benefit no one. Not only that, identity politics, with ideology at its core, fuels Western nations’ foolish ways of achieving a pyrrhic victory. To deal with this, the CCP’s utmost priority is to avoid being constrained by others’ definitions and to present a new image of socialism with Chinese characteristics. But is China ready to do this?

While it seems that policy makers in both the US and China hold entrenched antagonistic views, making “war talk” commonplace, one should not surrender to that perceived inevitability. Every effort should be made on both sides to start rebuilding trust from less controversial issues, says US academic Zhu Zhiqun.

China is far from possessing the ability, experience and resources to maintain and safeguard the global order. Thus, it is in its own interest to continue supporting the US as the global leader. Even so, amid a challenging international climate, China can no longer maintain a low profile. It needs to improve its global image and quell fears of the China threat. More importantly, the CCP should resist its internal urge to go all out on its fighting philosophy, which may likely win itself more enemies than friends.

While Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s 3-5 Jan visit to Beijing reaped economic opportunities, it was also a missed opportunity to leverage the 2016 arbitral award, says Philippine academic Charmaine Misalucha-Willoughby. The onus rests on the Philippines to keep the West Philippine Sea on the agenda, and there are several steps the Marcos administration should keep in mind in doing so.