Interview: Cooperation with China makes both economies more resilient: Singapore PM

SINGAPORE, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between Singapore and China makes both economies more resilient, especially in the context of the weakness of global economy, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

Speaking in a recent interview with Chinese media ahead of his official visit to China, Lee said he expected the pattern of the bilateral economic cooperation, which has been supported largely by the complementary nature of the two economies, to change in the future as both upgrade their economies.

PATTERN OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Lee said China is upgrading itself and doing more sophisticated activities, not just labor-intensive manufacturing, but high- skilled technology-intensive manufacturing and some of the services where Singapore and other more developed economies have had a strength.

"It's a way the international division of labor works. When one country moves up, the other have to develop new skills to complement the new players so that we can continue to make a living for ourselves," he said.

The cooperation between China and Singapore have been expanding fast over the past decades, especially since the establishment of official diplomatic ties in 1990. Bilateral trade grew by 11.2 percent year on year to 63.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, according to Chinese official statisitcs. The bilateral trade in the first half of this year totalled 32 billion U.S. dollars, growing by 1.3 percent despite the challenging environment.

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