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There is a need to create a core of Singaporean Chinese talent, former Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that was published on Thursday (Aug. 18).

Yeo made this comment when discussing the current state of international affairs and Singapore's future in it.

In particular, he noted the impact of China's rise and spoke about how Singapore can prepare for it.

Yeo shared in the interview that all of us face the same reality that China's rise will impact all our lives, especially "our children's".

"We should anticipate that future in which English will find its proportionate importance, but Chinese will become much more important for our future", Yeo added.

Dangerous to rely on imported Chinese talent

Without a core of Singaporean Chinese talent, then we will be reliant on "imported Chinese talent", Yeo opined.

"But there's a danger in being too reliant on imported Chinese talent", he cautioned.

That's because they didn't "grow up here", and don't have "the same early programming, the same intimate understanding of (the Singaporean) society", Yeo continued.

"If you have a Singapore core, then you can accrete them around the Singapore core, and it'll be alright", he said.

"But if we don't have a Singapore core, there's nothing to accrete them around, and they may take our society in the wrong direction."

In view of this, Yeo suggested that we should have 'SAP' universities and polytechnics.

'"SAP" refers to schools under the special assistance plan, which was introduced in 1979 as a long-term scheme to promote bilingualism, particularly in Mandarin.

Multiculturalism enables us to "arbitrage opportunities"

During the interview, Yeo noted the importance of treasuring and nourishing the cultural "root system" of all races in Singapore.

He also thinks that being Singaporean is having a "meta-identity".

Elaborating on this idea, he noted that one can be a Singaporean and at the same time, be Chinese, Malay, Muslim or Christian, for example.

"But being Singaporean doesn't require you to choose being Muslim and Singaporean (or) being Chinese and Singaporean", Yeo said.

"So Singapore must be big: big-hearted, big-minded", he added.

This enables us to "arbitrage opportunities across different cultural domains", Yeo said.

Singaporeans should be taught Asean anthem

Yeo also stressed the importance of Asean.

Speaking on the subject, he suggested that the Asean anthem be taught to all Singaporeans.

This will be important as U.S.-China relations are increasingly becoming tested.

"Sooner or later, we'll be caught between U.S. and China. It's a rock and a hard place", Yeo said.

"If there's Asean, then we'll have more room to manoeuvre", he explained.

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Top image via Lianhe Zaobao