[SINGAPORE] The Republic and China should deepen cooperation in three areas to address the shared global challenges of climate change, technological advances and demographic shifts, Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat said on Monday (Jul 6).

Speaking at the Lianhe Zaobao Singapore-China Forum, he said these areas were in the green transition, artificial intelligence and robotics, as well as ageing.

He added that “no country has all the answers, nor the capacity and resources to act alone”.

In this spirit, Singapore and China can “look forward to continuing to expand and deepen our collaboration”, building on the strong foundation laid by previous generations. 

“These bilateral partnerships need not stop at our borders – the lessons learnt and the solutions developed can ripple outward, benefiting the wider region and the world,” said the minister.

On the green transition, he called it “one of the most pressing tasks of our time as a global community”, noting that climate change affects all countries regardless of their geography, resources or stage of development.

“We thus share a common responsibility – to one another and to the generations that come after us – to build a more sustainable world,” Chee said, adding that accelerating the transition would also strengthen energy resilience.

He stressed that such efforts are not just national endeavours, as international cooperation will become increasingly important as demand for reliable and sustainable energy grows.

As such, he said there is much Singapore can learn from China in this field.