Self-learning through teaching: Singapore's land development policy transfer experience in China

Abstract

As a rising market, China has attracted many transnational agents seeking to tap new resources and/or do business overseas. These agents include international governmental and non-governmental organizations, multi-national corporations, and foreign states. We propose a theoretical concept of ‘self-learning through teaching’ to empirically examine the process by which the government of Singapore does business via policy transfer in China, specifically in Suzhou and Tianjin. Most of the existing literature argues that Singapore has leveraged its experience of rapid economic growth to teach China how to pursue development. Our findings suggest that, in addition to providing China with the benefit of its experience, the Singaporean government has also self-learned a great deal through interaction with China in terms of the political complexities of conducting transnational business, such as how to improve budgeting control over land development, negotiating local interests, and coordinating central fragmentation.