S'pore-Japan forum urges collective action to build resilience against global uncertainty

Expand partnerships to show support for free trade, say panellists from both nations

- Walter Sim Japan Correspondent

This was the consensus among panellists at a public forum on Sept 18 as they discussed how to navigate global uncertainties.

The forum was held as part of the 18th annual Japan-Singapore Symposium, which took place in Tokyo under the theme Japan-Singapore Cooperation In A World Remade.

One of the panellists, Singapore Institute of International Affairs chairman Simon Tay, identified the "remaking of America" as a "hyper-accelerator" of change, besides wars and the big-power rivalry between the United States and China.

These evolving geopolitical dynamics threaten to sow division, not least within Asean, which faces growing pressure to take a stand.

Executive fellow Takio Yamada of the Japan Institute of International Affairs think-tank said: "Rivalry between big powers is intensifying and affecting the region.

"Forces are already functioning to divide Asean."

More cooperation - not less - is critical in such a climate, the panellists said, as they discussed the importance of trade frameworks, such as the 12-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Both count Singapore and Japan among their members.

"We have to exercise collective agency. Singapore and Japan share strategic interests to convince the US to stay committed to preserving the liberal economic order for its own interest. But that is not enough," Waseda University economist Tomoo Kikuchi told the symposium.

"We must also expand consumption within the region and deepen regional financial integration."

The CPTPP originated in 2006 as the P-4 grouping comprising Singapore, New Zealand, Chile and Brunei.