Singapore cancels plans for tourism promotion fair in Shanghai

Asian Economic News, July 19, 2004

SHANGHAI, July 15 Kyodo

Singapore officials have canceled plans for an annual tourism-promotion festival in Shanghai this month following Chinese protests over Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's recent visit to Taiwan, local media and a Singaporean organizer said Thursday.

The Singapore Fair, which was slated to kick off July 28 at a sporting center in the Pudong District, was called off because the Singapore government backers feared complaints of soiling the country's reputation, the organizer said.

On Tuesday, the Chinese government lashed out at Singapore over an unofficial visit by Lee to Taiwan earlier this month. Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and opposes any visits to the island by foreign leaders.

Singapore government officials in Shanghai told the Pudong Culture Department that they were afraid that three months of occupying the sports center would ''affect citizens' normal exercise activities,'' according to the Oriental Morning Post newspaper.

The fair, in its 10th year, would have provided entertainment and food from 10 Singapore restaurants.

The Singapore Tourism Board sponsors it as a promotion for Singapore culture.

Food and beverage organizer David Chua contacted fellow Singapore participants Wednesday to announce the cancellation. He said the restaurants would lose out.

''I think this has to do with politics,'' Chua said. ''We had to secretly cancel.''

The same sports center was the venue of last year's traveling World Carnival, a Hong Kong-based event that moved to Beijing this summer. The Carnival drew 2.1 million people and earned 210 million yuan (about $25.4 million), the Oriental Morning Post said.

Pudong authorities had already approved the Singapore fair and encouraged it to take place at the sports center, the paper said.

Local Singaporeans, approximately 5,000 of whom live in Shanghai, may be disappointed by the cancellation, said Huang Wooi Teik, president of the Shanghai Singapore Business Association.

''Such cases are taken badly by the Chinese,'' Huang said. ''As Singaporeans, we don't want to see any more of these.''