Chapter 2: Sustainable Development and State Capitalism
2.2 Singapore’s Involvement
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direct-controlled-municipalities) put forward plans to reach and develop eco-cities. Of those cities, 46.3% propose the establishment of “low-carbon cities”.
Altogether, cities that have plans to implement either one or both developments (eco-cities or low-carbon cities) already sum up to 259 cities, representing 90.2%
of all prefecture-level cities.26
Because the number of cities has been rising and overcrowded and metropolitan areas become more common in recent years, prefecture-level cities and above currently account for more than 50 percent of the nation’s energy consumption, and for the CO2 production about 60 percent.27
Up to now most prefecture-level cities have stressed the development of eco-city construction. This shows the willingness to build eco-friendly areas even though the incentives might differ from the ones in the western civilization.
Further and more detailed explanation will follow in later analysis.
In 2010 the number of eco-cities had increased up to more than 230. Reports published in 2011 state that about 80 percent of the prefecture-level cities initiated at least one eco-city project.28
2.2 Singapore’s Involvement
Why is Singapore an ideal partner for this joint-venture project? What are the qualifications that which explicitly have convinced the Chinese government to start this project as a joint-venture, rather than an own project with just one
China Internet Information Center. “China's Political System: VI. The Local Administrative System.”
Accessed April 20, 2014. http://www.china.org.cn/english/Political/28842.htm.
26 Li, Jingyuan, Weiping Sun, and Liu, Juke李景源, 孫偉平, 劉舉科. Zhongguo sheng tai cheng shi jian she fa zhan bao gao (2012) 中國生態城市建設發展報告 [The report on the development of China's eco-cities]. Di yi ban. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2012, 27.
27 Qiu, Baoxing 仇保興. “Cong lüse jianzhu dao ditan shengtaicheng 從綠色建築到低碳生態城 [From green building to low carbon eco-city].” Chengshi fazhan yanjiu 城市發展研究 2009, no. 16 (7): 1–11.
28 Chien, Eco-cities, 177.
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state mainly involved in the designing, constructing and implementing process?
Either way it probably would have been possible to attract other foreign and national companies to share their knowledge and expertise for this undertaking.
What where the incentives to include the Singaporean government in the whole process? In order to better understand this whole construction and working process it is necessary to get greater comprehension about the development of Singapore and specifically its construction and building sector.
Singapore’s contribution towards investment in economic and environmental development isn’t something which just started in recent years. Deng Xiaoping’s open door and reform policy initiated foreign investment in China, and Singapore was one of the first investors who thereby followed a strategy of long-term investments.
Singapore sometimes is regarded as a representative model state because of its flourishing and rapid economic and social development. Consequently it is referred as a prestige project due to its unique combination of effective state entrepreneurialism and the creating of a sustainable environment and infrastructure. The limited available space and size as a city state and island country might also positively support this development.
As sustainability is differently described and applied, it is quite vague to speak from factors which are only applicable to green technology or environmental factors. Howsoever Singapore managed to develop a field of innovations in the sector of urban conditions, constructions and lifestyles. Singapore has been quite successful in realizing several projects, such as the “garden city”, or
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subsidized housing, industrial estates, water resource management or waste (disposal) management and residences.29
2.2.1 Singapore’s History
Since Singapore’s independence in 1965 some scholars feared that this cause unstable conditions due since then the country is governed by an one-ruling party system, a rather absolute authoritarian regime. This quite often has led to economic disruptions and corruptions in countries of the Third World. But Singapore’s success is stable and built on the government’s ability to suppress corruption, create an understanding of “national success”, transform civil services into agencies of development, and attract FDI by focusing on an export-oriented industrialization.30
Furthermore the land acquisition by the legislature, and the regulated and planned transportation infrastructure, all helped to maintain and improve standards and competitiveness, with a strict budget covering the expenses.
Singapore’s expertise and know-how helped the country to promote and spread their ideas on a more global scale, hence its one goal:
to share Singapore’s experience in public reforms and good governance with governments around the world to promote good governance and generate goodwill and cooperation across international borders. 31
29 Ong, Aihwa. “Introduction Worlding Cities, or the Art of Being Global.” In Worlding cities: Asian experiments and the art of being global. Edited by Ananya Roy and Aihwa Ong, 1–26. Chichester, West Sussex, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 14.
30 Huat, Chua B. “Singapore as Model: Planning Innovations, Knowledge Experts.” In Worlding cities: Asian experiments and the art of being global. Edited by Ananya Roy and Aihwa Ong, 27–54.
Chichester, West Sussex, Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 30.
31 Huat, Singapore as Model, 32
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Singapore’s bonds with China have been established at a quite early stage.
Since 1992 municipal officers have been attending a special training program to learn the know-how and practices in city government in Singapore. The same applies for the state level with exchanges between the PAP and the CPC on a higher level basis.32
In the early 1990s Deng Xiaoping already mentioned that not only does Singapore have a good social order, furthermore it has a strict management, experience to learn from in order to improve and surpass Singapore’s achievements.33
Since then China’s government officials have undertaken several measurements to replicate and transfer some of Singapore’s successful innovations and construction projects. Best known projects which besides initiated joint-ventures between the Singaporean and Chinese government are the Suchou Industrial Park started in 1992 and the initiated and still currently under construction Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City.
China is keen to get a share of Singapore’s expertise – referring to it frequently – particularly in constructing green buildings and green technologies, water treatment, public housing, waste management and other sectors which have enough scope for development.34
Even though this work is specializing on analyzing environmental structures and the support by Singapore, certain similarities between the both countries
32 Goh, Chin L. “Young PAP 'school' takes a leaf from Communist youth.” The Straits Times, March 2, 2009,
33 Kristof, Nicholas D. “THE WORLD; China Sees Singapore As a Model for Progress.” The New York Times, 25.
August 9, 1992. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/09/weekinreview/the-world-china-sees-singapore-as-a-model-for-progress.html (accessed April 23, 2014).
34 Lye and Chen, Eco-cities in East Asia, 35.
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identities and also the governmental structures cannot be denied. Singapore’s well-constructed and coordinated projects and control all rely on the one-party-state construction, similar to the Chinese government. State supervised and planned, the cooperation between both countries is of avail and of possible success due to its similar structures and adaptability to each other.
The compatibility and cooperation between both countries will be discussed and analyzed in a later chapter.