Huang Jing resigns as independent director of Keppel Land

PROMINENT academic from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Huang Jing, has resigned as an independent director of Keppel Land, a subsidiary of Keppel Corp.

Announcing this on the Singapore Exchange on Sunday morning, Keppel Corp said his leaving was with immediate effect.

The group's announcement followed the statement issued by the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday regarding the cancellation of Prof Huang's Singapore permanent residence status for working with a foreign government to influence Singapore's foreign policy and public opinion here.

MHA said on Friday that Prof Huang and his wife Shirley Yang Xiuping, both United States citizens, will be permanently banned from Singapore, in what is the first publicly known case of its kind in nearly 20 years.

The ministry said in a statement that Prof Huang has been identified as "an agent of influence of a foreign country" who worked with intelligence organisations and agents from that country. It did not name the country.

Prof Huang was the director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation and Lee Foundation Professor on US-China relations at the LKY School, and his views on China and foreign policy issues were regularly sought by organisations and the media.