“In April 2023, Singapore’s then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Chinese President Xi Jinping … agreed to establish a new bilateral policy dialogue platform to identify potential synergies between China’s ‘Digital China’ Plan and Singapore’s ‘Smart Nation’ Initiative.”
Singapore Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Tan Kiat How, Opening Remarks at Singapore-China Digital Policy Dialogue, June 27, 2024
The Singapore-China Digital Policy Dialogue is one of the earliest, and perhaps the first, formal bilateral policy mechanisms overseen by China’s new National Data Administration, the central office that directly manages the Digital China strategy.
Singapore and China just took a quietly significant step toward coordinating their national digital strategies: Singapore’s Smart Nation and Digital China. On June 27th, Beijing hosted the inaugural Singapore-China Digital Policy Dialogue (DPD), a forum created by General Secretary Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong specifically “to identify potential synergies” between the two strategies. The dialogue convened representatives from “government, industry, and academia to facilitate high-level discussions on developments and policy matters in the digital domain.”
This strategy milestone is more than routine bilateral coordination. For Beijing, the DPD fits into the broader global turn of Digital China: China is seeking international partners to help shape cross-border data rules, AI governance norms, and digital economy standards in ways that reinforce its national strategy. Singapore, meanwhile, likely is seeking to understand, influence, and where possible channel the expansion of China’s digital ambitions into Southeast Asia and beyond. One side aims to build an external environment supportive of Digital China; the other aims to preserve strategic autonomy and shape the rules of regional digital engagement. The asymmetry is structural. But the cooperation is real.
The DPD itself was co-chaired by Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Tan Kiat How and China’s National Data Administration (NDA) Director Liu Liehong. Director Liu also serves as the Secretary of the NDA’s Leading Party Members Group. The NDA is the agency responsible for organizing, coordinating, and implementing the Digital China strategy. That makes this dialogue one of the earliest, and perhaps the first, formal bilateral policy mechanisms overseen directly by the institution that manages Digital China.
Two versions of the origin story
Singapore’s explanation for the DPD’s origins is unambiguous. In Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How’s opening remarks at the dialogue, he noted that, “In April 2023, Singapore’s then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Chinese President Xi Jinping … agreed to establish a new bilateral policy dialogue platform to identify potential synergies between China’s ‘Digital China‘ Plan and Singapore’s ‘Smart Nation‘ Initiative.” Singapore’s press read-out from the DPD stated it differently: “Both countries agreed on the establishment of the DPD when then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met with Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang in April 2023.”
China’s version is notably different. PRC media reports emphasize only that the dialogue mechanism was announced at the “China–Singapore Vice Premier–level Bilateral Cooperation Mechanism” in December 2023. Digital China is not mentioned at all—not in Liu Liehong’s press readout, nor in any state-run media coverage following the meeting.
This kind of omission is not unusual. For decades, PRC reporting on Digital China has regularly omitted, downplayed, or reframed the strategy even when it is the driving force behind high-level engagements. The pattern appears again here.
Focus Areas: Cross-Border Data Flow and AI Governance
The inaugural DPD focused on two areas: Trusted Commercial Cross-Border Data Flow and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance (or AI safety and governance).
Both the Singapore and China read-outs from the dialogue highlighted the DPD focus area on Cross-Border Data Flow, with both sides seeking smoother, safer, and more predictable cross-border data flows, a foundational requirement for digital trade. However, the two sides used slightly different language. Singapore emphasized “common baseline standards” and sharing mechanisms. The PRC readout used the term “Enterprise Data Cross-Border Flow (企业数据跨境流动),” aligning with its evolving regulatory architecture.
Both readouts also noted the AI Governance focus area, commonly referencing governance frameworks and mutual learning. But the NDA readout broadened the conversation, noting that “both sides shared and exchanged views on topics such as artificial intelligence technology, applications, industry, security, and governance (人工智能技术, 应用, 产业, 安全和治理).” This perhaps highlighted a more expansive conception of AI as part of national data governance and the Digital China ecosystem.
Singapore published a straightforward readout on the dialogue results from each focus area:
- Cross-Border Data Flow: “Under the reporting of the work group for Trusted Flow of Commercial Data, both parties agreed to promote common baseline standards to facilitate the cross-border flow of data, and to exchange knowledge on cross-border data sharing mechanisms.”
- Artificial Intelligence Governance: “Under the reporting of the work group for Artificial Intelligence Governance, both parties agreed to promote mutual learning across the private sector and research institutions in AI governance, and to enhance mutual understanding of governance frameworks.”
- Digital Economy: “Overall, the DPD will strengthen technical exchanges and cooperation on the digital economy between government agencies, universities, research institutes, enterprises, and businesses of both countries.”
Singapore’s long-standing digital work with China
Senior Minister’s Tan Kiat How also provided a useful summary of Singapore-China digital cooperation:
Singapore and China’s digital cooperation is long-standing and multifaceted, characterised by numerous collaborative efforts that have strengthened over the years. For example, our third government-to-government project, the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative was launched in 2015. Through the CCI, both sides have unlocked greater connectivity and cross-border data flows through various pilots. In 2019, the Singapore-China (Shenzhen) Smart Cities Initiative (SCI) was established as part of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network. The SCI serves as a pathfinder for policy innovations to facilitate cross-border data flows and digital trade. Singapore has also signed various MOUs on digital economy cooperation with Chinese cities such as Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Suzhou to implement pilot use cases in digital trade and cross-border data flows, as well as to promote innovation and business facilitation.