Line crossed under foreign interference law when activities enter political realm: Experts

Individuals may express strong feelings about a foreign entity, but they cross the line under Singapore’s foreign interference laws when their behaviour veers into the political realm, experts said.

- Jean Iau

On Feb 2, a Hong Kong-born businessman became the first person to be dealt with under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (Fica), a law that empowers the authorities here to deal with foreign interference in domestic politics.

Mr Philip Chan Man Ping, 59, a naturalised Singapore citizen, was served notice that the authorities intend to designate him a politically significant person.

Mr Chan was assessed to have shown susceptibility to being influenced by foreign actors, and a willingness to advance their interests, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, without naming any foreign entity.

His activities were also assessed to be directed towards a political end in Singapore, MHA added.

The Straits Times had reported that Mr Chan, managing director of several real estate investment firms, was invited to attend China’s annual Two Sessions parliamentary meetings in March 2023 as an “overseas Chinese representative”.

He was among 30 such representatives from around the world invited by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body to the Chinese government.

In 2014, Chinese state media outlet Global Times quoted a representative from the CPPCC National Committee as saying that overseas representatives need to have “expertise in a certain sphere, have the capability to participate in politics, stay influential among overseas Chinese, and most importantly, love China”.

Mr Barry Desker, a distinguished fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), said that in taking part as an overseas Chinese representative of the CPPCC, Mr Chan represented that Singapore is a “Chinese constituency in such Chinese parliamentary proceedings”.