Keynote Speech by by Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Tong SC, at the SIMC-SHICMC event

Mr Li Dong, Chairman of CCPIT Shanghai

Mr Lin Xiaonie, Vice President of Shanghai High People’s Court

Mr Zhou Cheng, Vice President of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice

Dr Ma Yi, Vice Chairman of CCPIT Shanghai

Mr Gu Zhe, Chairman of Shanghai International Commercial Mediation Centre

Mr George Lim SC, Chairman of SIMC

Mr Chuan Wee Meng, CEO of SIMC

Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

1.                 Good afternoon to all of you. I am really happy and delighted to be back in Shanghai again, amongst friends and in a very familiar environment.

2.                 I, as you know, have a special affinity for Shanghai, I first came to Shanghai in the middle of the 1990s. Shanghai was not as developed as today. I remember I went around Pudong and it was very different from what you see today. Just visually, looking at Shanghai, you see the progress, you see the development, and you see the prosperity that it has been able to bring to its people. A large part of it is down to having a strong sense of rule of law, where there is a rules-based system for people to transact, for people to do business, and for societies to be organised.

3.                 In addition to my long history of being in Shanghai, I co-chair the Singapore–Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council (SSCCC) with Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng. This is also one of the reasons I keep coming back to Shanghai.

4.                 In that role, my focus is really to foster deeper economic and cultural ties between Singapore and Shanghai. We use SSCCC as a platform for collaboration – promoting innovation, building partnerships that strengthen the relationship between both cities and both countries, as well as looking at the broader region.

5.                 Indeed, Singapore and Shanghai share many similarities. We are both leading international business and financial centres, and our ports are consistently ranked amongst the top two busiest in the world.

6.                 At first glance, many outside would see Singapore and Shanghai as fierce competitors. While indeed it is healthy competition, our experience has shown us that we are, in practice, far more collaborators than competitors. This cooperation and collaboration have, in fact, brought very clear mutual benefits to both our cities, businesses as well as to our people. So, today’s theme, “Shanghai-Singapore Synergy”, resonates with me very deeply.

Singapore-Shanghai Synergy

7.                 But I would also say that the partnership between Singapore and Shanghai is not new. Singapore’s commercial presence in Shanghai began to grow in the 1980s, following China’s reforms and opening up. Many of the initial businesses came from Singapore. Companies like Keppel, Singapore Airlines, and DBS Bank started very early in Shanghai and these are amongst the best-known corporates in Singapore.

8.                 These early investments laid the groundwork for decades of bilateral trade, professional exchange, and a very deep and meaningful city-to-city exchange. By the mid-1990s, Singaporean companies were involved in projects, ranging from infrastructure development to financial services, contributing to Shanghai’s emergence as a global commercial hub, while at the same time, also generating returns for Singaporean investors.

9.                 But despite this, the flow of businesses has never been one-way. Since the 1990s, Shanghai companies have established a strong presence in Singapore as well, in sectors ranging from banking and logistics to technology and professional services. Today, I am happy to say that Chinese enterprises account for more than 10% of all foreign direct investments in Singapore, with many of them headquartered in Shanghai.

10.             So, this very rich and vibrant two-way exchange has created an ecosystem of trade, talent, and expertise. In 2025, bilateral trade between Singapore and Shanghai exceeded US$90 billion, demonstrating the very tangible economic benefits of this collaboration.

11.             By the time the SSCCC was established in 2019, we already had a solid foundation for collaboration between Singapore and Shanghai on many fronts and in fact, had already been taking place. But with the formality and structure of the SSCCC, it became an organised platform for deeper dialogues, more joint projects, and broader networking opportunities, enabling more enterprises from both cities to participate in each other’s markets.

12.             It has also given rise to numerous bilateral projects in technology, finance, urban governance, healthcare, and education. I discussed a lot of this with Mayor Gong Zheng, and between both our teams, because we see deep mutual benefit for both our cities. It helps us to create opportunities for regional expansion, and at the same time, strengthening the competitiveness of both cities.

13.             It is within this broader context of business, institutional collaboration, people-to-people exchange, that our work in this area of international dispute resolution, including mediation, must be understood.

14.             Dispute resolution exists to help businesses by reducing uncertainty, protecting investments, facilitating cross-border transactions, and really ensuring that economic growth, demonstrated by the investments that I talked about, is underpinned by trust and certainty.

Developments in mediation in Singapore and Shanghai / China

15.             Both Singapore and Shanghai have also made significant progress in developing mediation.

16.             In both cities, one common feature stands out, there was a very strong system of support from the Government and the courts. Let me elaborate a little.

17.             In Singapore, the Singapore Academy of Law, an organisation under the supervision of the Chief Justice, launched the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC) in 1997. I remember the days when I was a lawyer practising in court. We would get notices from the SMC every once in a while, to say “Hey, your case is suitable for mediation, come for mediation”. Even in the context of litigation, where we are adversaries in an adversarial system, we are still looking at mediation.

18.             Later on, in 2014, the Ministry of Law established the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), to focus on international as well as cross-border disputes. We believe that with the growth of businesses, more companies looking outwards, and more multi-jurisdictional transactions, it was important to think about mediation being cross-border as well.

19.             Likewise, in Shanghai, there are seven authorities, including the Shanghai High People’s Court and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice, that jointly issued the “Several Measures for Promoting High-Quality Development of Commercial Mediation in Shanghai” in May 2024, about 2 years ago.

20.             In the same month, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice and the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau also approved the establishment of the Shanghai International Commercial Mediation Centre (“SHICMC”). Most recently, the State Council of China’s new Regulations on Commercial Mediation also entered into effect on 1 May 2026, marking the first nationwide legal framework dedicated specifically to commercial mediation.

21.             I think this support that we see in both countries – from the courts, from the Government, from the institutions – are very important. Not only because these are high-level institutions, but because it is important to signal that this is the support structure that we want to give, that this is a viable and an important method of dispute resolution. It requires close coordination between the Government, the courts, the institutions, and the industry stakeholders All must work in tandem.

Synergy between Singapore and Shanghai

22.             Some may ask, well, if both Singapore and Shanghai are developing strong mediation capabilities, then does that mean that we are also competitors? I would suggest that the answer to this question is no. I firmly believe in fact, that the opposite is true for at least three reasons. Let me share them with you.

23.             First, the nature of cross-border disputes makes neutrality outside the home jurisdiction essential. You need to find a place that is neutral. If you’re dealing with two parties or more from different countries, you need to find a third country that is neutral. Disputes often involve parties from differing jurisdictions and they typically prefer a neutral third-party forum. Singapore does not seek to handle purely domestic disputes elsewhere, but aims to be the trusted option for cross-border cases. Our deep economic ties with China, and the presence of enterprises in both cities, provide a strong foundation for both familiarity as well as trust.

24.             Second, the scale of demand that we are beginning to see far exceeds what any single jurisdiction can meet. If you look at the growth of trade as one indicator, year-on-year, China-ASEAN trade, of which Singapore is the biggest share, has been growing. Outward direct investments by Chinese corporates into businesses outside in the region have been growing. Asia as a whole has been the single largest recipient of foreign direct investment. All of these show that transactions are going up, and as a result, the capacity to handle mediation must also increase.

25.             Let me just give some numbers so that you can see the perspective. Trade in goods has grown exponentially. It was about US$6 – 7 trillion in 2000, and today, it is US$24 – 26 trillion. So a substantial growth over about a quarter of a century period. Trade in services has expanded even more rapidly, from about US$1.5 – 2 trillion to about US$8 – 9.5 trillion over the same period of time. So the growth in services, the growth in trade, has all gone up over the last few years.

26.             Therefore, as economic integration deepens, international commercial disputes will grow in both volume and complexity. On top of this, mediation is gaining traction worldwide, partly supported by the Singapore Convention on Mediation, which enhances the certainty and the enforceability of mediated settlement agreements across borders. We look forward to when China can also become a Party to the Convention because as an economic powerhouse, as one of the world’s leaders, China’s ratification would significantly strengthen the Convention’s global reach and impact.

27.             Third reason, I believe that overall collaboration strengthens the credibility of Asia as a whole. If Singapore and Shanghai are both recognised as credible mediation centres, then trust in this region will grow. Singapore is open. Foreign counsel can participate in sessions, and we share training and expertise across jurisdictions.

28.             In fact, just a few days ago, I was in Tianjin to welcome a new batch of specialist mediators to the SIMC panel. We are very happy to have so many Chinese lawyers, judges, legal experts on the panel of specialist mediators, because it means that you will be able to handle cases under the SIMC’s auspices. These are not just Chinese cases, but cases which require mediation in the region, in the way that I have just explained.

29.             From my observation, the international legal talent that you have in Shanghai has a very strong competitive edge. You have very good legal talent base, and the exports of legal services has been growing in Shanghai.

30.             Through the Singapore–Shanghai Lawyers Exchange Programme,  that my Ministry has run for close to three years now, we have lawyers from Singapore seconded to firms in Shanghai, and we have Shanghai lawyers seconded to firms in Singapore as well – not just to understand Singapore law and Chinese law, but to understand the culture of doing business, the cultural context of being able to advise clients in a different setting and in a different economic jurisdiction.

31.             Through this programme, I had the chance to meet with quite a number of Shanghai lawyers, ask them how it went, ask them to explain whether or not this was useful, what they learnt. I think they learned a lot, because by the time I talked to them, they could tell me in a lot of detail all the very popular Singaporean food dishes. It shows that we have succeeded, because besides being good lawyers, you must understand the culture, how you operate, and the jurisdiction and the home country in which you are operating.

32.             I found them to be very professional, sharp, resilient, and more than able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with international counterparts. I think this gives you a very strong solid foundation on which to build the legal industry and mediation. So overall, I believe we can complement each other’s strengths, offer global businesses a very coherent and trusted Asian voice in mediation.

Conclusion

33.             So those are the three reasons but let me just conclude by saying that as we continue exploring ways to collaborate, to deepen our partnership and our cooperation, it should always be guided by mutual respect, shared learning, and institutional trust. These are perhaps the most important ingredients in any relationship.

34.             We can then serve our own jurisdictions even better, while setting a higher standard for how international commercial disputes are resolved more amicably, efficiently, and transparently. When we can resolve disputes amicably, we can preserve the relationships that has taken us a long time to build.

35.             Today, if you look at transactions, you look at the way you carry out projects, they are multi-party, multi-jurisdictional and the projects can last many years. Through that, you build strong relationships. If you allow one dispute to unravel everything, it takes many years to rebuild it again. So, mediation has the added benefit of both parties walking away from a dispute happy with the outcome.

36.             I very much look forward to deeper collaboration between SIMC and SHICMC, as well as between Singapore and Shanghai institutions, and look forward to what we can build for the benefit of both Singapore and Shanghai in the years ahead.

37.             Thank you very much.

Last updated on 26 May 2026