Shift in strategy should be new mantra for Asia

Singapore’s Deputy PM Tharman Shanmugaratnam suggests threepronged strategy for India and SouthEast Asia to focus on creation of jobs, air connectivity, digital innovation and smart cities

SINGAPORE: Asia needs to shift strategies at a time when the world is witness to an escalating trade war between the US and China, its two largest economies, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday.

In his inaugural speech at the Mint Asia-Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Shanmugaratnam suggested a threepronged strategy for India and South-East Asia that focuses on the creation of jobs, air connectivity, digital innovation and smart cities.

In a conversation at the opening session of the event, Shanmugaratnam said that for countries to move beyond trade wars, there need to be more winners. Technological change has narrowed the window of opportunity, and the next five years will be critical for India and parts of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) that are still not on the manufacturing escalator, the Singapore deputy PM added.

“We have probably peaked in terms of global trade as a proportion of the global economy but even at current levels of global trade, there is still significant scope left to export and import more. The source of economic dynamism has always been competition and learning and it is through trade and investment across borders that we learn the fastest,” Shanmugaratnam said.

“If you look at our part of the world (Asia), we are still far away from realising the potential of manufacturing. Most specially, in India and some parts of the Asean...It can be done but there has to be a sense of urgency because the window of opportunity is much smaller to get on that escalator,” he said.

In recent weeks, the administration of US President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on imports from China and Beijing has hit back with measures of its own in a tit-for-tat trade war that has spooked investors.

At the Mint Asia-HT event, with the theme of ‘The Road Ahead for Asia’, Shanmugaratnam offered some advice to India which he said he was doing as a friend of the country.

He indicated that India is on the right trajectory but that it needs to do more in terms of its pace and direction and to make a decisive shift in strategy to escalate to the required level of growth.

“India needs 10 to 12 million jobs per year and you (India) are currently far short of that and it requires new strategies and India has embarked on those strategies,” Shanmugaratnam said.

He, however, exuded optimism that the change can be brought about. Citing the Tata group, Mahindra & Mahindra and the Hero Group as examples, he added that Indian companies can compete globally.