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Hong Kong and Singapore’s economies are ‘closely intertwined’, minister K Shanmugam says

  • Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law says he is ‘bemused’ by suggestions that Hong Kong is in terminal decline
  • Speaking at the Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia in Singapore, Shanmugam added his view was premised on there being no major external disruptions

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Singapore’s Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam addresses SCMP’s China Conference: Southeast Asia 2023, on March 29, 2023, in Singapore. Photo: Handout
Dewey Simin SingaporeandKimberly Lim
A top Singapore minister on Wednesday sought to dismiss the view that Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian city state were locked in a zero-sum rivalry, saying instead that both economies were “intertwined”.
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Speaking at the Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia in Singapore, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam said he was also “bemused” by suggestions that Hong Kong was in terminal decline.

“Many of the factors necessary for Hong Kong to continue to succeed are present,” he said.

In his 20-minute speech, the Singapore minister said he believed the Hong Kong government was maligned by some international media outlets for its efforts to restore order during the 2019 political turmoil.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, who was also at the conference, acknowledged Shanmugam’s remarks in his keynote speech, saying the slant in media coverage was ultimately down to “ethics and integrity”.
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“At the end of the day, even if we have strong economic growth, that won’t be able to sustain us. We need to have strong values, strong morals. And I’m sure, this region is the region for tomorrow,” Chan said, briefly going off-script during his speech.

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