Singapore, China to establish national green and digital shipping corridor; pledge to deepen ties
Planned national shipping corridor is an elevation of current arrangements between Singapore and Tianjin municipality
[SINGAPORE] Singapore and China have agreed to work together to decarbonise and digitalise shipping routes between the two countries, with the establishment of a national green and digital shipping corridor.
This memorandum of understanding (MOU) is one of eight agreements exchanged on Saturday (Oct 25) during an official visit by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, as Singapore and China pledged to deepen cooperation and bilateral ties.
Li, who is visiting Singapore for the first time at the invitation of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, was welcomed by a guard-of-honour at Parliament House.
In his opening remarks during a meeting between the two delegations, PM Wong said: “We would like to see how we can deepen our cooperation further, and also how we can work together to uphold the key principles of free trade and the rules-based multilateral order.”
Li said he looks forward to further deepening China-Singapore relations during his visit here – the first by a Chinese Premier in seven years.
“Pragmatic cooperation will better serve the modernisation of our two countries and make greater contributions to the peaceful and stable development of our region. I am willing to have a full and frank exchange of views with the prime minister on issues of common concern,” he added.
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The planned national shipping corridor between Singapore and China is an elevation of current arrangements between Singapore and Tianjin municipality, as well as with Shandong province, to test digital solutions and alternative fuels on shipping routes.
Tianjin is home to the largest port in northern China, while Shandong is China’s second most populous province and hosts one of the world’s busiest container ports in Qingdao.
The move will add to a growing global network of so-called “green and digital shipping corridors”, of which Singapore has six today.
In addition to those with Tianjin and Shandong, Singapore has similar shipping corridors with the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach in the US, and the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
At the national level, Singapore also has green and digital shipping corridors with Japan and Australia, and it recently agreed in September to establish one with India.
The MOU to establish the Singapore-China Green and Digital Shipping Corridor was signed on Oct 19 by Singapore’s Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow and China’s Transport Minister Liu Wei.
Under the MOU, the two countries will work with the maritime industry to advance decarbonisation, improve the efficiency of ports and supply chains, and develop supporting technologies, infrastructure, and standards.
The agreement builds on the respective strengths of China and Singapore in manufacturing, supply chain ecosystems, regulatory frameworks and financial capabilities.
Six of the world’s 10 largest container ports by volume are located in China and the manufacturing powerhouse has also been Singapore’s largest goods trading partner since 2013, with total bilateral trade in 2024 amounting to S$170 billion, a 1.8 per cent increase from 2023.
Other bilateral MOUs exchanged on Li’s first day in Singapore included an agreement between the two countries to jointly develop a training programme for government officials from all 10 Asean member states, as well as Timor-Leste, soon to be the 11th member.
Both sides had earlier signed a letter of intent to develop such a programme when PM Wong made an introductory visit to China in June 2025, his first outside of South-east Asia after taking over as head of government in May 2024.
The training programme will focus on areas such as clean energy transition, sustainable urban development and climate resilience.
It will also support the Asean Power Grid, which has been in the works for decades and has made greater headway in recent months with a deal to lay a new subsea electricity cable between Indonesia and Singapore and the launch of a US$10 billion funding initiative.
Another MOU will see Singapore and China cooperate on emergency management, with both sides to exchange knowledge and expertise in firefighting, rescue and disaster management.
Additionally, Singapore and China have agreed to enhance their cooperation in green development and the digital economy, building on earlier pacts that were inked in 2022.
Existing MOUs on food safety and information and communications technology were also renewed and updated.
With the new agreements, more business collaboration will be encouraged, including in new areas such as carbon trading, carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen.
Both countries will also work closer together in areas such as digital trade and the sharing of best practices in relation to digital economy regulations and policies.
The final MOU signed on Saturday will enhance the functions of a Singapore launchpad that facilitates two-way investments between Singapore and the Suzhou Industrial Park.
Under the MOU, both sides will jointly support the establishment of business cooperation centres in South-east Asia to promote Singapore as a gateway for the two-way flow of trade and investments between the region and China, as well as the two-way internationalisation of companies.
Li’s two-day visit to Singapore comes as Singapore and China mark 35 years of diplomatic ties.
In a statement issued on his arrival, Li said that relations between the two countries have maintained a sound momentum of growth since the establishment of formal ties in 1990.
“Our political mutual trust has steadily deepened, practical cooperation has yielded fruitful outcomes, and people-to-people exchanges have grown closer, setting a fine example of mutual learning and mutual benefit,” he said.
Noting the upgrade of China-Singapore relations in 2023 to that of an “all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership”, Li said cooperation has deepened in various areas with concrete results and contributed significantly to peace and development in the region.
An earlier meeting between PM Wong and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in June saw the two leaders make new strategic plans for taking bilateral relations forward, creating broader space and brighter prospects for the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, Li added.
“China stands ready to work with Singapore to build greater synergy between our development strategies, expand mutually beneficial cooperation across the board, continue to pursue the path of modernisation hand in hand, and make greater contributions to upholding true multilateralism and promoting common development of the region,” he said. THE STRAITS TIMES
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