Speech by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, and Second Minister for Law, Mr Edwin Tong SC, at the 4th Singapore-China International Commercial Dispute Resolution Conference

27 NOV 2024

Mr Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT)

Justice Liu Guixiang, Standing Member of the Supreme People’s Court’s Adjudication Committee, and Grand Justice of the Second Rank

Justice See Kee Oon, Judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Singapore

Friends and colleagues from Singapore and China
Our Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

  1. A very good afternoon to all of you.
  1. I am very delighted to be back here in Beijing, for the 4th edition of the Singapore-China International Commercial Dispute Resolution Conference. It brings back many fond memories. The first time I came for the inaugural Conference was in January 2019. I had a warm reception from CCPIT.

MinLaw-CCPIT Relations

  1. At that time, our relations with CCPIT were newly forged. It was my first encounter with CCPIT, since I joined the Government in July 2018. At that time, I remember that I met then-Chairman Gao Yan, and then-Vice Chairman Lu Pengqi, as well as Dr Yu Jianlong, who at that time was with the ICC World Chambers Federation, and the China Chamber of International Commerce. I also met Prof Zhang Yuejiao, who is with us today. But despite it being an introductory meeting, I immediately felt the warmth and also most importantly, the commonality of purpose and drive. I felt the sincerity in wanting to work together. Earlier on, before we started this Conference, I had a chat with Chairman Ren and his delegation, and we reiterated the warm friendship we have.
  1. We share many common goals, in wanting to facilitate international trade and investment in our cities, promote cooperation between our businesses, support the needs of our respective businesses, both in Singapore and China as they begin to go global and internationalise. And this of course, invariably includes international dispute resolution services, because disputes cannot be avoided. They are inevitable, and are part of investments, part of doing business. It is how we deal with disputes that matters the most.
  1. Over the years, I am very glad that we are able to maintain, and maybe even strengthen, our partnership over the last few years – including through the challenges of COVID-19. And that the successive leaders of CCPIT have remained warm and close, and I thank them for the constant support for this project. That includes the current Chairman Ren. I thank you very much for the support and the friendship.

Singapore-China Relations

  1. This close relationship between my Ministry and CCPIT, in fact, as you heard Chairman Ren’s speech earlier, reflects the deeper level of cooperation and very substantive relations between Singapore and China.
  1. Just two weeks ago, Singapore and China held our 20th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting, as well as our Joint Steering Committee meetings for our three government-to-government projects in Suzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing.
  1. From the meetings, it was very clear that our countries have advanced many concrete initiatives, in a broad range of areas. And there were many suggestions on what more we can do, in line with our upgraded“All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership”. This has been something that has also guided my Ministry and CCPIT as we look at subsequent editions of this Conference.
  1. Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court, Justice He Xiaorong and I also had a very fruitful discussion on legal and judicial cooperation.
  1. As you have heard earlier this week, in fact right here today, my Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong is also in China, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Singapore-China Suzhou Industrial Park, to meet with various Chinese leaders in Beijing, Suzhou, and later this week, in Shanghai as well. In fact, Senior Minister Lee and his team are right here today as we speak.
  1. I am very confident, with the commitment of our leaders from both sides, these bonds will deepen. We will flourish, and our collaborations will continue. Ultimately, this is not just for the sake of the Conference, but I believe that these relations will benefit both our countries, our society, and ultimately, our people.

Potential Areas for Future Cooperation

  1. I hope that beyond the leadership level, we will be able to also build strong ties between our trade associations, Bar associations, dispute resolution institutions, law firms, and ultimately, each and every single individual person, lawyers included. It is only by fostering connections at all levels, that we can build a robust foundation, that can withstand challenges, and ensure long-term cooperation.
  1. And I am sure you know that China is ASEAN’s biggest trading partner, and recently, ASEAN has also become China’s biggest trading partner. And if law follows business, which is what I believe, then I think the foundation for a strong relationship has already been established. And what we now need to do is to build on the fact that we are a close region to China by working on people-to-people services, understanding the way that we do business, and knowing the cultural context and nuances is going to be particularly important, especially in today’s world.
  1. Earlier on, I had a chance to chat with Chairman Ren and we agreed that today, we need more multilateralism and more globalisation – an outward perspective, not an inward introspective, where businesses can invest, trade, and transact cross-border.
  1. As we do this, it is important that their trusted legal advisers, which is everyone here, will be able to support their legal needs. And as you probably cannot do this alone, it is important to have not just a rich understanding of the legal system, but an appreciation of the local context and cultural nuances.
  1. CCPIT and my Ministry have committed to co-organising this Conference every year, alternating between Singapore and China, to provide our practitioners the opportunity, to establish that initial connection, and to gain an understanding of how each other work.
  1. To take this to our eventual goal of building strong, enduring ties between our legal and dispute resolution communities, I think we need to do more. We can do more. I would share three small suggestions with all of you on what else we can consider doing.
  1. First, I think we can deepen our legal and judicial cooperation:

(1) We have traditionally looked at legal cooperation and judicial cooperation, perhaps as separate areas of workstreams and areas of cooperation.

(2) Our Chief Justices of both our countries already co-chair a Legal and Judicial Roundtable every year, focusing on cooperation between our judiciaries. And my Ministry collaborates with our counterparts at the PRC Ministry of Justice, CCPIT, and the Bar associations in the legal field.

(3) I think we can explore further on what we can do to deepen our cooperation on the intersection, for example, explore strengthening mutual assistance between our courts in the area of international arbitration. Afterall, both our courts have judicial and curial oversight of arbitrations and mediations in our countries.

  1. Second, let us see how we can build a tighter community of relevant stakeholders involved in disputes, and that I mean the whole spectrum, end-to-end - counsel, arbitrators, conciliators, mediators, and business leaders.

(1) Our respective law firms, Bar associations, and dispute resolution institutions already come together to cooperate but I think we can do more.

(2) There may be value in building a multilateral community, involving different stakeholder groups, as what one stakeholder group knows and does, may have impact another stakeholder group. For example, those in the business community and the lawyers who advise them will understand evolving trends. They will know what is coming up on the horizon and they will need to know whether the law will support their business ventures or change the way they do business.

(3) When we come together to think about these, it will really give us a strong foundation moving forward - a very multilateral, strong, cohesive bases.

  1. Third, is to find avenues for more frequent interaction and immersion. I think we have done very well today and have a strong, large delegation of lawyers coming here. Again, I think we can do more because the governments, the associations, and our institutions are doing our best to establish platforms, such as this Conference.

(1) There are other examples. Singapore has the Singapore Convention Week every year. And China has the China Arbitration Week, as well as the Shanghai Arbitration Week, which I just attended two weeks ago.

(2) I think these are tremendous platforms for us to come together, participate, take part, and perhaps most importantly, even if you do not leave the conference with additional legal knowledge, I hope you leave the conference with additional friends, because ultimately, this relation between our respective societies or Bars is going to be very important.

(3) That is in part why we have introduced, with a lot of success, the Lawyers Exchange Programme with Shanghai. We bring lawyers from Shanghai to Singapore, and the Singapore law firms look after them. They learn legal principles, and most importantly, they learn what makes Singapore different. They learn about the practice of the law in the Singapore context, and I understand they also learned a lot about Singapore food, and after a while, they can promote Singapore food in Shanghai as well. Likewise, we send lawyers from Singapore to Shanghai. We bring them further to the centre of business in China and how Shanghai counsel advise their clients, learning the way in which they conduct business, and more importantly, learning different ways in which different transactions are handled. The perspective is very different. I think that knowledge, culture, and friendship are particularly important.

(4) Beyond these platforms, on a people-to-people basis, there are many other ways in maintaining this connection. Afterall today, we already have visa-free travel arrangements between Singapore and China. There is now no longer any more excuses not to be present in the jurisdiction.

  1. I make all these suggestions as examples on what we can do. Fundamentally, what underpins this is really two things:

(1) One, a strong appreciation of the fact that today we must come together more, cooperate more, support multilateralism, and be open to partnerships in a bigger way. That is what I think we need in today's difficult time.

(2) Second, most importantly, underpinning all of this would be strong people-to-people relationship. We need the relationships to be stronger, more sustainable and lasting for the long term.

Conclusion

  1. Before I end, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to CCPIT for collaborating with us, all the speakers and participants, both from China and Singapore and elsewhere, for joining us.
  1. I thank organisers, I know they work very hard to make this happen. Thank you very much for all that you do. I hope to be able to continue working with you. As I expressed to Chairman Ren earlier, next year is our fifth anniversary. It is also Singapore’s 60th birthday, a very important year for us, but also importantly, it is the 35th year of Singapore-China diplomatic relations.
  1. So, there are very many reasons to celebrate, and we hope to do this in a way which marks the occasion appropriately.
  1. I hope to see all of you there. We will work over the next year with our colleagues at CCPIT, to turn next year into a celebration that we will be able to remember. We look forward to hosting everyone in Singapore next year.
  1. Once again, thank you very much for joining us at this year’s Conference. I hope to be able to speak to you and interact more with all of you at our lunch break.
  1. Thank you.

Last updated on 27 November 2024