SINGAPORE – Singapore and China must deepen cooperation and strengthen trusted leadership to navigate a period of profound global shifts, ministers from Singapore said on Nov 18.

Speaking at the 10th Singapore-China Forum on Leadership, which coincides with the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing noted that the current era is marked by geopolitical competition, rapid technological disruption and diverse aspirations in societies.

The world today, noted Mr Chan, stands at an “inflection point”, as it faces challenges that are reshaping how nations govern, grow and live together. “We must build on our partnership to shape trends, seize opportunities, and forge new paths forward,” he said.

The challenges include intensifying geopolitical competition and a crisis of confidence in institutions that have underpinned the global order for decades.

Mr Chan noted that bodies such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation are increasingly seen as ineffective, outdated or irrelevant, with conflicts bypassing the UN Security Council and trade disputes going around the WTO.

When climate agreements lack enforcement and multilateral frameworks are questioned, people lose faith not just in the institutions themselves, he said, but also in the idea that nations can work together to solve shared problems.

“The danger lies not merely in competition between nations, but in the wholesale abandonment of cooperative frameworks,” he said. “When nations retreat into silos, when supply chains become weapons, when cooperation becomes a casualty of rivalry – we all lose.”