Singapore's new "lifestyle"
In Singapore, Grab, a mobile travel service platform nicknamed "the Southeast Asian version of Didi", is making a big splash. The company received investment from its Chinese counterpart Didi Chuxing as early as 2015. Not only did it bring new travel modes such as express, special cars, ride-hailing, and carpooling to local residents, it also started to get involved in the local mobile payment and online financial fields by using travel expenses as a starting point. Grab's service benefits not only passengers, but also a large number of drivers. Statistics show that Grab has more than 930,000 contracted drivers in 55 cities in 7 countries in Southeast Asia.
Whether shared bicycles or online ride-hailing, it represents the new sharing economy experience that Chinese investment has brought to Singapore residents in recent years. In fact, the impact of Chinese investment on Singapore’s economy and people’s livelihood has always existed and is constantly increasing.
According to data provided by the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, China’s non-financial direct investment in Singapore in 2016 was US$4.205 billion, accounting for 45.2% of China’s investment in ASEAN, and accounting for China’s direct investment in non-financial countries along the “Belt and Road”. 28.9% of the total investment.
Xu Zhenyi, Dean of Singapore Nanyang International Business School, believes that the impact of Chinese investment on Singapore’s economy is concentrated in two aspects. First of all, some important facilities in Singapore were constructed by Chinese-funded enterprises, such as subways, HDB flats, apartments, roads and bridges, etc. Chinese-funded enterprises have also aggressively entered Singapore’s service areas, such as the catering industry and retail industry, bringing new conveniences and choices to the lives of local people in Singapore and benefiting the people’s livelihood. Secondly, many Chinese-funded companies use Singapore as their Southeast Asian headquarters to open up the Southeast Asian market, such as Baosteel, New Hope, and Huaneng; financial institutions such as Minsheng Bank even open up the North American market from Singapore. The investment of Chinese companies in these fields will help Singapore maintain its status as a commercial and financial center in Southeast Asia.
The implementation of the “One Belt One Road” initiative has brought a new change in the image of Chinese investment in Singapore. Unlike previous corporate mergers and acquisitions and operating local projects, more and more Chinese companies are now investing in Singapore for the purpose of cooperating with Singapore companies to open up overseas markets.
Tengxin Development, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China National Machinery Engineering Corporation, and Singapore Singbridge Ascendas Group have had successful experience in such cooperation. The two parties jointly went global and jointly developed India's industrial park project. Tengxin Development is also preparing to establish a joint venture company with Singapore Pacific Shipping, which has expertise in multi-deck ship operation and management, to develop logistics business in African ports and inland areas, and jointly build 4 special bulk carriers to meet the transportation requirements of related routes. demand. Shi Jiantao, general manager of Tengxin Development, said that Singapore’s investment in China’s “One Belt and One Road” on the one hand provides Chinese companies with professional and advanced services and management concepts. On the other hand, it also has a large number of opportunities to expand the market and broaden the field. The service-oriented economic model that passively waits for the attention and entry of the international market is transformed into a new model that actively transports services and management out of the "Belt and Road" construction and penetrates into the hinterland of the international market for development.
In addition to manufacturing companies, the investment cooperation of Chinese financial institutions in Singapore has recently focused on overseas construction projects under the “Belt and Road” initiative. The Chinese investment they bring has provided support and convenience for Singapore enterprises to participate in the construction of the "Belt and Road".