Asia needs to form agile partnerships, double down on regional integration: Singapore DPM Gan Kim Yong

Straits Times

2 days ago

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong delivering a speech at the 30th Nikkei International Forum on the Future of Asia in Tokyo on May 29. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Asia must not 'rest on its laurels' and continue to reinforce partnerships amid turmoil: DPM Gan
– Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong on May 29 appealed to Asia to form agile partnerships and double down on regional integration amid deepening global strife.
While many countries in Asia are already part of overlapping partnerships of varying permutations – bilateral, regional, plurilateral – the inherent danger is if they rest on their laurels and not work on growing and strengthening these links, he said.
'We should recognise the challenges of the current turmoil and raise the ambition of each of these mutually reinforcing partnerships,' Mr Gan said in a speech during the 30th Nikkei International Forum On The Future of Asia in Tokyo.
Exercising agility and flexibility in building ties is increasingly vital as the world grapples with what Mr Gan described as 'the greatest uncertainty confronting us today': What would happen after the United States' 90-day reprieve over 'reciprocal tariffs' ends on July 8.
'Things are changing all the time, every morning when (you) open the newspaper , there is always big news on trade and tariffs, and sometimes shocking news, and that is the first dish on your breakfast table,' Mr Gan, who is also Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister, said in conversation with the Nikkei's Singapore bureau chief Fumika Sato.
While he noted that the risk of a recession cannot be ruled out, another bad-case scenario was that it would be difficult to undo the damage caused by the sweeping Liberation Day tariffs.
'At the end of 90 days, whatever outcome that may be, the uncertainty remains that tariffs can be raised or reduced at any point in time,' Mr Gan said. 'This will result in weakening of the global trading system, and that is going to be the new order of the day. In time to come, this will be the new landscape.'
Trade-reliant economies like Singapore, whose trade is three times the size of its economy, would be vulnerable to these headwinds.
This was why it was essential for Asean and its partners to double down and expand on existing relationships, he said. Doing so would 'demonstrate to the rest of the world that despite this contestation and competition, there is still room for cooperation and collaboration'.
The Straits Times is a media partner for the two-day event , whose theme for 2025 is Asia's Challenge In A Turbulent World.
Mr Gan, who leads Singapore's tariff negotiations with Washington, had used his 20-minute address to emphasise that a winner-takes-all approach towards trade was against the spirit of a level playing field that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been advocating. In such a climate, larger economies with stronger bargaining chips can leave smaller economies in the dust.
'This is why recent moves by some countries to impose and remove tariffs at will are concerning,' Mr Gan told an audience of over 200 diplomats, bureaucrats, executives and academics.
Singapore faces the baseline 10 per cent reciprocal tariff imposed by the US, although some countries across South-east Asia were hit harder with rates of over 40 per cent.
'We must do all we can to reinforce a shared rules-based order, so that global trade can continue to be conducted on a free, fair and non-discriminatory basis,' Mr Gan said.
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In this regard, Japan and Singapore are partners, given the convergence in their strategic outlooks and a shared agenda to strengthen and reform multilateral institutions.
The two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic ties in 2026, an occasion that lends itself to the opportunity for new areas of collaboration such as digital trade, supply chain resilience, and the green transition.
Mr Gan reiterated Singapore's hopes for Japan to play an even bigger role in the upkeep of regional peace and stability – a point that Singapore's political leaders have made repeatedly in recent years.
'Singapore stands ready to work with Japan as a trusted and reliable partner, and we hope to step up our economic and security cooperation in time to come,' he said .
Japan's expanding role in regional security comes despite its history as a wartime aggressor. Yet the tides have changed 80 years since its surrender, with Japan now relied upon as a staunch defender of a rules-based multilateral order that is being undermined.
Yet this order is now under attack, with assertive behaviour in regional waters, as well as international conflicts both on the battlefield and in trade.
Mr Gan said the world is facing three key fundamental challenges today:
How can Asia maintain strategic autonomy amidst intensifying US-China contestation?
How can we preserve the rules-based, multilateral trading system that underpins Asia's economic growth and development?
How do we address global threats and protect the global commons?
For one thing, the persistent risk of flare-ups between the world's two largest economies could well spread beyond trade to other areas, such as investments, supply chains and critical technology, Mr Gan warned.
'While both powers claim that they do not wish to force countries to take sides, each seeks to draw others closer to their respective orbits,' he said.
This makes it all the more paramount for Asian countries, which maintain close ties with both powers, to 'continue to maintain our strategic autonomy, and act in a principled and consistent way on the basis of our own national interests,' he added.
It was also in Asia's interests to modernise the WTO, Mr Gan said, noting: 'While the system is not perfect, we must not abandon it. Instead, we should reform it and make it better.'
Among Mr Gan's suggestions were to review the existing consensus-based decision-making processes such that they do not 'end up a recipe for gridlock', and to update the WTO rulebook to address emerging issues.
Other institutions such as the World Health Organisation, International Monetary Fund and World Bank cannot be allowed to fail, Mr Gan said, as this would impair the world's ability to respond to future crises like pandemics or recessions.
The key way to prevent this was to entrench relationships – especially in areas where the collective commitment already seems to be waning, such as in climate change – by deepening existing ones and forging new ties.
He noted how Asean, which earlier this week had concluded talks on upgrading its trade in goods agreement, was looking to deepen economic ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
This includes a potential free trade agreement between Asean and the GCC, its possible admission to the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that now comprises Asean, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.
The more vigorous Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), too, is looking at how to broaden economic partnerships, including with Asean and the European Union.
The CPTPP comprised 11 founding members after the United States pulled out – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – with Britain acceded as the 12th member in 2024.
Singapore supports cementing multilateralism, including by expanding the CPTPP if countries can meet its stringent criteria, with Mr Gan noting China and Indonesia as among countries that have indicated interest.
'These new alliances will facilitate effective and timely collaboration on key trade policy issues, and signal our commitment to a rules-based trading system,' he said.
There are also measures driven by like-minded countries, such as a WTO Joint Statement Initiative on E-commerce that Japan, Singapore and Australia co-led in 2019 and now involves 91 members, accounting for over 90 per cent of global trade.
Despite unsuccessful efforts to formally incorporate the initiative within the WTO in February 2025, the countries are exploring how to implement the agreement in the interim.
'This is one example of 'flexible multilateralism', where we allow like-minded partners to move ahead on important issues of mutual interest, such as e-commerce, while leaving the door open for others to join as and when they are ready,' Mr Gan said.
Other areas for collaboration with Asean include deeper digital integration and cross-border payment connectivity, as well as what the DPM described as a 'cross-border flow of electrons'.
Referring to plans for an Asean Power Grid by 2045, which would facilitate the flow of renewable energy across borders and reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, Mr Gan said: 'Asia is at the epicentre of the battle against climate change.
'There is urgency to galvanise global action not only for climate mitigation measures, but also to accelerate the green transition.'
During his three-day visit to Tokyo ending May 29, Mr Gan also met with Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, economic security minister Minoru Kiuchi, as well as economic revitalisation minister Ryosei Akazawa, who is leading Japan's tariff negotiations with the US.
Walter Sim is Japan correspondent at The Straits Times. Based in Tokyo, he writes about political, economic and socio-cultural issues.
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