China Conference: Hong Kong's Paul Chan, Singapore's Shanmugam, Malaysia's Tengku Zafrul Aziz headline SCMP's first overseas forum since 2019
Asia's hope for green shoots of growth despite the ongoing global geopolitical and economic turbulence will be the focus of a Post-hosted regional forum of public and private sector leaders.
The two-day China Conference: Southeast Asia 2023 that begins on Wednesday will feature keynote speeches by Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam and Malaysia's Minister for International Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz.
The Chinese ambassador in Singapore, Sun Haiyan, will deliver a keynote address on Thursday.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
The Singapore forum is the first major overseas conference organised by the Post since 2019. The 202o and 2021 editions were held virtually amid the Covid-19 pandemic, while the 2022 edition was held in hybrid format.
"The China Conference series has long been one of the most significant flagship thought leadership productions of the South China Morning Post," said the Post's chief executive Catherine So.
The latest edition of the China Conference: Southeast Asia conference series carries "incredible depth of political and economic analyses" that will shed light on the evolving relationship between China, its neighbours in Asia and the rest of the world, So said.
The conference line-up - comprising of 46 speakers - reflects "the diversity in thought celebrated and shared in value by the Post and its readers", So added.
Some 250 people are expected at this year's forum, which includes panels on topics ranging from Southeast Asian economies strategies amid the ongoing US-China rivalry, the rise of family offices in Asia and the future of alternative dispute resolution in the region.
An estimated 500 participants will also attend virtually.
The speech by Chan, Hong Kong's financial tsar, is expected to be closely parsed by the region's business community.
His Singapore visit follows an earlier stop in neighbouring Malaysia, where he held talks with top government officials and business leaders and outlined numerous opportunities in the Greater Bay Area. He will have similar meetings in Singapore.
Hong Kong officials including Chan and Chief Executive John Lee ka-Chiu have been on a regional charm offensive in recent months, as the city seeks to consolidate efforts to attract global talent and investment following the end of its gruelling zero-Covid strategy.
Zafrul, the Malaysian trade minister, is expected to speak about the country's plans to attract more foreign direct investments and encourage economic integration within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The country's new coalition government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has sought to assure global investors that political stability has been restored following the turmoil that felled three prime ministers between 2020 and 2022.
Elsewhere, the keynote address by Shanmugam, a key lieutenant of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will be scrutinised for insights on the Singapore government's view on the region's peace and growth prospects as concerns about the US-China rivalry intensify.
Top officials including Lee have repeatedly insisted both superpowers need to find ways to work together and exercise restraint in areas where they have differences.
Post editor-in-chief Tammy Tam said the Singapore conference would underscore how Asia remained a "critical part" of the 120-year-old newspaper's mission to tell the China story.
Noting that the China Conference: Southeast Asia series had gone "from strength to strength" even during the pandemic, Tam said the forum reflected the Post's commitment to developing credible and reliable sources to understand the region and its interactions with China and the rest of the world.
"This latest conference in Singapore will showcase a range of experts whom we believe will add to the global conversation about the pressing multidimensional issues facing us, from economic uncertainties to geopolitical tensions," she said.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
