Singapore working to deepen ties with China and US: PM

Munich

SINGAPORE has a broad, wide-ranging relationship with both China and the United States, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday.

He was giving his assessment of relations with both powers in an interview with Singapore reporters towards the end of his six-day working visit to Germany, during which he met President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump.

Singapore has a wide range of cooperation with China, Mr Lee said, citing the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative - the third joint project between the countries - as well as exchanges with China's Central Organisation Department. The department's minister, Politburo member Zhao Leji, called on Mr Lee in May this year.

Mr Lee noted that Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam visited China in June, and that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has accepted an invitation to visit Singapore. "We have a broad relationship - there are issues that come out from time to time, we deal with them in a mature way and we move ahead," he said. "We are not at odds with China, and I think China finds it useful also to be friendly with Singapore, so that's a good basis o…