Perspectives of Two Island Nations

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Message
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• About the Editor
• About the Contributors
• Contents

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Economic Development
• Becoming Global City-State
• Enabling the Global City
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Prelude: Pre-World War II Engagement
• 1945–1954: Post-War Insecurity and a Shift to Asia
• 1949–1950: Limiting Change
• The Calculus Changes
• Diplomatic Representation
• 1955–1958: The first New Zealand Commission in Southeast Asia
• Changing of the Guard
• 1958–1962: Supporting Singapore towards Merger
• A Political Shock
• Final Negotiations
• 1963–1965: The Malaysia Experiment
• 1964: The Race Riots
• Lee Kuan Yew’s New Zealand Visit in 1965
• The Denouement
• Supporting Independent Singapore
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Historic Background
• Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
• Settlements with Iwi (Māori Tribes)
• Requirements for Settlements
• Economic Consequences of Settlements
• The Future
• Bibliography

It is difficult to encapsulate the relations of two countries as close as ours that have broadened and deepened over almost 60 years. Some 8,500 km lie between us, yet Singapore and New Zealand share the same hopes for a world where smaller countries have their own voice and where they can prosper and thrive. With populations of similar size, our bilateral relations are grounded in complementarity that benefits both our peoples. We have supported each other in times of crisis and both work tirelessly to uphold the rules-based international order. Statistics and numbers cannot fully reflect the friendships that have formed between our leaders, officials, business people, and communities. Yet, the deep reserve of trust this has built will continue to serve us in years to come…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Early Years
• Alignment versus Non-Alignment
• Relations with the Two Superpowers
• ASEAN Unity and Neutrality
• Free Trade versus Protectionism
• Multilateralism versus Unilateralism
• Rule of Law versus the Law of the Jungle
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• New Zealand’s Foreign Policy — Interests and Values
• New Zealand’s Foreign Policy Challenges: Nuclear Weapons and The Environment
• New Zealand’s Foreign Policy Challenges: Navigating China’s Rise and Relations with Australia and the US
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• What ASEAN Is and Is Not
• US–China Strategic Competition
• The Way Forward
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Climate Change
• Regional Relationships
• Strategic Competition and Its Impact
• Self-Determination in the Pacific
• Labour Mobility in the Pacific

The following sections are included:

• Relations Based on Shared Interests
• Dialogue Partner of PIF
• Enhancing Bilateral Relations through Capacity-Building Programmes
• Singapore–Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing (SPARKS) Package
• Maritime and Aviation Cooperation — Helping the PIS Build Connectivity
• Close Partnership at the UN and Other International Fora
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Shared History and Shared Interests
• Defence and the Enhanced Partnership
• Challenges, But Cause for Optimism?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement — now the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) — is, by any measure, a central part of the emerging global trade policy framework. To the surprise of many, including the author, it survived the decision of the United States to withdraw after US Trade Representative Mike Froman had signed the Agreement in Auckland in 2015 on behalf of the US government. Today, the CPTPP incorporates 12 economies, including leading G20 economies such as Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and the UK, which is its most recent entrant. Six other economies, most importantly including China, the world’s second-largest economy, are now applying for membership. What began between Singapore and New Zealand — a conscious strategic decision on the parts of the two countries to try to incentivise this process of Asia-Pacific regional integration in 1999 — is now clearly a major part of the global geopolitical chessboard…

Singapore and New Zealand are kindred spirits. Being small, we survive by clinical analysis of environmental changes and adjusting to them. Having a smaller margin of manoeuvre, we have to be fleet-footed and agile. We cannot afford to be subjective or have an inflated notion of our own importance to the world. When NZ Trade Minister Lockwood Smith suggested an FTA with Singapore in 1999, I was intrigued and asked for a short paper. Tim wrote that paper. It was so well written that I thought I should simply attach it as an annex to the memorandum I tabled to the Singapore Cabinet that recommended the launch of negotiations with NZ. It was a toy agreement, but one which was fully functioning. It became the basic model for many FTAs that both countries negotiated in subsequent years, including with giant economies like the US and China. These FTAs have served us well, especially with the lack of progress in the WTO…

Note from Publisher: This chapter consists of photographs only.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Singapore Has Done Well But Now Faces Numerous Domestic and External Challenges
• Structural Weaknesses Might Limit Singapore’s Potential to Adapt to These Challenges
• What Has Gone Wrong?
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Comparing Singapore and New Zealand
• International Trade Agreements
• New Zealand’s Economic Relationship with China
• Export Diversification
• De-risking
• A Food and Pharmaceutical Security Agreement
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Notes

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Key Areas of Business Cooperation
• Looking Forward
• Bibliography

People matter. As well as the company they keep. No more so than when it comes to bridging a longstanding business relationship between New Zealand and Singapore.

This came to my mind recently when I received a supply of fine NZ food products, delivered to my door by Kiwi Kitchen, which was set up in Singapore by former South Island dairy farmer Kevin Youngman in 2014. He provides top-quality goods that are sometimes not easy to find on supermarket shelves, catering to Singaporeans, Kiwis, and quite a few expats who favour the authentic flavours of NZ. Of course, he is not the first, but he has created a niche for himself and is a fine example of an enthusiastic NZ businessman not afraid of competition…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Atmospheric CO₂ and the Beginnings of Modern Climate Change Science
• New Zealand’s Role in Early Climate Change Science
• International Research and Climate Change Agreements
• Current Climate Change Policy and Progress in New Zealand
• Summary
• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Southeast Asia Is Exposed to Multiple Geohazards and Climate Change Is Compounding the Problem
• Understanding These Environmental Threats and Promoting Resilient and Sustainable Societies Require Local, Regional, and Global Collaborations
• Scientific Findings Have Better Characterised the Hazards the Region Is Facing
• Reducing Vulnerability and Promoting Resilience to Geohazards and Climate Change
• Towards Safer and More Sustainable Societies
• Bibliography

In 1991, New Zealand passed the Resource Management Act (RMA). The Act was considered world-leading at the time, but has since been widely criticised for not living up to its potential. Thirty years on, the country undertook a rethink of its core environmental legislation to provide a stronger focus on strategic planning, firm environmental limits, and positive environmental outcomes. This chapter looks at the impetus for the reform, the innovative approaches that were adopted in the new legislation, potential implementation challenges, and its swift repeal when a new government entered office in late 2023.

When my wife Tania and I entered the creative industries in 1987, it couldn’t have been a better time to have started off in this amazing career. Reflecting on it all these years later, I am struck by how important the ‘luck of timing’ was to our story.

On first arriving in Wellington in 1984 to undertake our studies, we assumed that we would see out our three years of education and quickly make our departure, bound for brighter lights; such was the drab and grey quality of the city we found, but maybe something was lurking under the briny waves of Wellington harbour, or possibly brooding just over the foothills of the city’s perimeter, waiting for the right moment to grab us and hold us to this place? Perhaps there was some perfect mix of alchemy percolating, ready to explode in chemical wonder, lighting this dim little city with a vibrant-hued creative flame that would burn for a further three decades…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Port Cities and Cross-Cultural Connections
• Innovation in Tradition
• Co-curating with Communities
• Summary
• Bibliography

The story of Te Papa is one of continuous reinvention.

The history of New Zealand’s national museum begins in 1865 with the founding of the small Colonial Museum in Wellington, near where New Zealand’s Parliament buildings are now. Over the next 50 years, the museum expanded, and in 1936 the museum and the country’s new National Art Gallery were co-located in a new neo-classical building…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Understanding the Operating Environment: The Strong Role of State Governance and Cultural Policy in Singapore
• Growing Audiences through a Quantitatively-Hyperactive Arts Sector
• Beyond Numbers, Scale, and Spectacle: Sustaining Survival through Interdependencies
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

The following sections are included:

• Blue Zones
• Lifespan and Health Span
• Population Ageing in Singapore
• Early Policy Responses to Population Ageing in Singapore
• National Blue Print for Ageing in 2015
• Healthier SG
• Many Helping Hands
• Action Plan for Successful Ageing (Refreshed)
• Social Isolation
• Age Well SG
• Long-Term Care, LTC
• Social Security System
• Gender Aspects of Ageing
• Silver Economy
• Conclusion
• Blue Zone Status for Singapore
• Bibliography

New Zealand is generally regarded as a progressive country, the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893 and, in 1898, the first to offer a state pension fully funded by taxation.

As with many other countries, we have an ageing population (but not for Māori or Pacific peoples with their much younger demographic profile), and the policy development to address this tends to be sporadic. Our retirement policies are also only addressed infrequently, often with insufficient data and rarely a focus on women. This chapter will consider various retirement income issues through a gender lens…