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GBA's sound industrial chains and efficient demand response retain Singaporean investors: SingCham Guangdong

Editor's Note:

In a year marked by rising protectionism and "decoupling" attempts in the world economic arena, what has become of China's allure as a favored investment destination? Foreign enterprises' bullish moves have told a lot about it. From January 2025, GDToday initiates a series of "Global Insights on 2025 Outlook@Business Trends", inviting representatives from foreign chambers of commerce and foreign companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to share their outlook on 2025. Please stay tuned.

The China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) Further Upgrade Protocol entered into force on Dec. 31, 2024, opening the services trade and investment markets between China and Singapore to a greater extent.

Since the CSFTA was signed in 2008, many investors and business people from China and Singapore have benefited greatly. Lim Chin Loon, Chairman of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China-Guangdong Chapter, is among them. Having invested in Guangdong for nearly 4 decades, Lim has witnessed China's reform and opening up, enjoying fruitful payback from his investment.

When tracing back his investment experiences in Guangdong, or the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), more precisely, Lim expressed his incredulity to GDToday on the response to new products developed here, thanks to the entire industrial chain in the region. It can be arranged within a few hours if you submit the demand to make samples.

At the beginning of 2024, China and Singapore inked a mutual visa exemption agreement, allowing Chinese and Singaporean citizens holding ordinary passports to enter and stay in each other's countries visa-free for up to 30 days. Lim strongly suggested his compatriots come and have a look. "It is incredible to estimate how bright its light will be. I am very optimistic about the development of the entire GBA".

GBA Integration Boosts High-Tech Development

When discussing his outlook on China's economic development in 2025, Lim believed China would overcome difficulties and grow well. As a deep participant, Lim told GDToday that he had noticed China's issue of spurring domestic demand. He thought it was the right way to gain economic momentum. "Because only by relying on the financial activities driven by the domestic demand of its over one billion population can the whole Chinese economy be revitalized. That would be sufficient as long as the overall domestic demand and supply market can achieve balance."

Lim saw the integrated and interconnected development of the GBA and the overall environmental conditions greatly improved. Like transportation, the opening of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link and Huangmaohai Cross-Sea Passage will boost the neighbouring economy.

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link allows Shenzhen residents to travel to Zhongshan in 30 minutes and also makes the flow of science and technology, talent, finance, and other factors between the east and west banks of the Pearl River more efficient. The Huangmaohai Cross-Sea Passage shortens the journey time from Hong Kong to western Guangdong by more than half an hour.

Lim also witnessed that Shenzhen has formed an entire industrial chain, from the original production industrial chain to the current R&D and intelligent innovation industrial chain over the past few decades since the reform and opening up. "Many people are even saying that it would replace Silicon Valley in the U.S. at any time," he added, highly praising the efficiency of Shenzhen's industrial chain for automated high-tech products like drones.

China-Singapore Investment and Exchange Upgrade

Reflecting on 30 years of experience, he said that many foreigners, especially the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, have deep nostalgic connections with China and mainly invested in China for emotional reasons in earlier years. However, most people who come here now are drawn by the robust development of the GBA and China, and they wish to engage more directly in certain industries and make profits.

The 30-day visa exemption between China and Singapore makes exchanges between the two countries more convenient and closer. "We hope that they all come and see more. No matter what you want to invest in or want to do, come here in person and spend at least 15 days here," he suggested.

China has been Singapore's largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years. For the 35th consecutive year, Guangdong is Singapore's largest provincial trading partner in China, with bilateral trade reaching 167.7 billion yuan in 2023.

CSGKC is another representative of the China-Singapore ties upgrade. He said, "We are actually full of expectations for the development of the CSGKC." Like Biosyngen, several Singaporean companies from high-tech fields of biopharmaceuticals and the digital economy with latecomer advantages in intellectual property rights thrived here.

In 2023, the CSGKC completed fixed asset investment of RMB 46.6 billion. The NUS Guangzhou Research Translation and Innovation Institute also settled here in March 2024.

"Many people still have great interest and confidence in the Chinese market," emphasized Lim Chin Loon. "Our SingCham is also providing assistance."

Reporter: Dai Bosi, Hu Nan

Cameraman: Liang Zijian

Video Editor: Liu Wenzhi

Poster: Lai Meiya

Editor: Ouyang Yan, James, Shen He

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