What of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Director, DP Architects (China), Tan Chee Yong spoke to The NUS Society’s The Graduate and shared insights on how DP stays relevant and seek opportunities to further extend its partnerships; thus, strengthening Singapore’s position as a gateway to globalisation.

As China seeks to revitalise the ancient trade route between them and Europe to unlock the enormous potential in these largely untapped areas of Central Asia, what opportunities does it present for Singapore and the region? How does DP Architects stay relevant?

 “DP Architects has existing footprint in BRI countries, making the firm well-placed to captialise on opportunities. Our One Global Studio is made up of a network of 17 international offices and eight specialist services. Collectively, we harness the strength of local market knowledge, extensive understanding of the local culture and expectations, and a competitive pool of global talents, to deliver rich, holistic and seamlessly integrated design solutions.” – Mr Tan Chee Yong, Director, DP Architects (China)

As a key commercial node in the region, Singapore has several inherent strengths that it can utilise to enhance its value proposition for BRI projects. Its robust corporate governance, transparency and legal framework, and reputation as an honest and reliable broker can go far in making BRI investments and projects more palatable.

Singapore is also a global transportation hub with a deep ecosystem of logistics, project development and service firms. It has a mature sustainable mindset, the technologies to design and optimise production and consumption chains, as well as the ability to create a green supply chain system. This can help BRI nations address their resource and environmental problems, reduce environmental costs, and find the best balance between utilising resources and protecting the environment.

The Singapore brand is widely recognised and trusted internationally and the BRI initiative is a good platform for Singapore to conduct its economic diplomacy with China as it represents the Chinese leadership’s most important economic legacy and an opportunity for the Republic to benefit economically from meaningful projects that can enhance regional connectivity.

To read the full article, please visit

https://www.nuss.org.sg/publication/1506585057_The%20Graduate_OCT-DEC%202017_FINAL.pdf