Singapore trade minister advises businesses to keep China as a focus due to its strong fundamentals.

• Despite potential obstacles in China's short-term economic recovery, Singapore trade and industry minister Gan Kim Yong believes the country has a promising future.
• Gan reiterated Singapore's stance that it will collaborate with whoever is in the White House, including a potential Donald Trump presidency.

Gan Kim Yong, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, advised businesses to prioritize China and seek ways to expand their presence in the world's second-largest economy on Friday.

Despite briefly experiencing deflation late last year, China continues to grapple with a debt-burdened real estate industry.

On Wednesday, Fitch downgraded its assessment of China's sovereign credit rating to negative, mirroring Moody's negative outlook in December.

The shift to new growth models is causing economic uncertainty, and Fitch has warned about the risks to public finances.

Gan stated on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" that if one takes a closer look, the sense he gets is that China's fundamentals are strong. He emphasized that China has a vast domestic market and a highly skilled and competitive workforce.

In the short term, the country may face challenges due to its investments in infrastructure, but in the long term, it will benefit from these investments and recover.

'Work with whoever's in the White House'

Singapore will always cooperate with the White House, regardless of tensions with China and the possibility of a second term for Donald Trump, as stated by Gan, echoing the statement made by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in March.

The U.S.-Singapore free trade agreement has been the foundation of their "very long standing relationship."

In 2004, the US signed its first FTA with a country in the Asia Pacific region, and this was the only such agreement with an ASEAN country.

Gan stated that the U.S. and Singapore share a belief in the rules-based trading system and will continue to promote collaboration both regionally and internationally, as well as bilaterally.

Both countries have established long-standing institutions for collaboration in emerging technology, as pointed out by him, regardless of who is in the White House.

Regardless of who becomes the new president, there will always be new challenges, uncertainties, and disruptions in our business, and for economic development, Gan stated.