People flows remain key to Singapore-China bilateral cooperation: Lawrence Wong
Discussions under way to start 30-day visa-free travel in early 2024 for citizens of either country to visit the other
[TIANJIN] Amid global economic headwinds and geopolitical uncertainty, Singapore and China must keep strengthening cooperation in both “traditional” areas such as trade and investment, and emerging areas such as digital and green economies, said Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Thursday (Dec 7).
Underpinning such efforts are the “very important” people-to-people links between both countries, he said at the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC).
People flows between both countries have been improving, and flight connectivity is approaching pre-Covid levels, he noted. But the hope is that such travel can eventually reach and even surpass pre-Covid levels.
To facilitate this, Singapore and China will establish a mutual 30-day visa exemption arrangement. Both sides are working out the operational details, with the aim of implementing this in early 2024, said Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a statement.
Establishing this new travel arrangement will also “fortify the bedrock of (Singapore and China’s) financial relationships”, DPM Wong said.
The move follows the resumption of China’s 15-day visa-free facility for Singaporean travellers on Jul 26 this year. The facility was suspended early in the pandemic.
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In 2019, 3.63 million Chinese travellers visited Singapore. In the first five months of 2023, arrivals from China rose to just 20 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels, behind visitors from Indonesia, India and Australia.
In July, Singapore’s total international arrivals climbed to 1.42 million, driven by a stronger return of Chinese travellers, which more than doubled from June to 231,326.
In February, China resumed group tours to Singapore and other countries. But China’s outbound tourism growth has remained lukewarm compared with domestic tourism, as international flights have been slow to resume. Other factors include higher airfares and more cautious spending amid China’s slowing growth.
This is the first time Wong and his Chinese counterpart, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, are co-chairing the JCBC – the apex bilateral platform for Singapore and China.
It is also the first edition of the meeting since both countries officially upgraded their relations to an “all-round, high-quality, future-oriented partnership” in April, after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital.
At the 19th edition of the JCBC, Wong and Ding presented 24 signed agreements between Singapore and China, including enhancements to the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The agreements span a wide range of areas, including food security, health, energy and finance.
In his opening remarks, Vice-Premier Ding, speaking in Mandarin, expressed hope that Singapore and China can establish a new landscape for mutually beneficial cooperation in the “new era” of bilateral relations.
Since the start of this year, both countries have had fruitful outcomes and multiple highlights in working together, he said. Economic and trade cooperation has scaled new heights, “high-quality” Belt and Road cooperation is proceeding steadily, and “key cooperation programmes” have been implemented in a profound way, he said.
The JCBC is thus for both countries to identify the trajectory for cooperation in the next phase of relations, and to jointly implement the consensus reached between the two leaders, said Ding. “I believe, with our joint efforts, these meetings will achieve full success.”
On Thursday, both leaders held a separate bilateral meeting at which they affirmed the importance of promoting greater people and business flows between Singapore and China, and exploring collaborations to deepen connectivity.
Wong and Ding also discussed the state of geopolitical tensions, climate change and the impact of the digital revolution on lives and livelihoods. They tasked the relevant agencies to keep working together in areas that would “enhance both countries’ readiness and ability to address such challenges”, said PMO.
Wong is on a four-day official visit to China, and is now in Tianjin for the JCBC. He was previously in the capital Beijing, where he met with Chinese premier Li Qiang and another of China’s vice-premiers, He Lifeng.
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