PM Lee to meet Xi Jinping on official visit to China
Claudia Chong
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be making an official visit to China from Monday (Mar 27) to Sunday at the invitation of the country’s new Premier Li Qiang.
His trip will include visits to Beijing, Guangzhou and Bo’ao in Hainan Province, where he will deliver a speech at the Bo’ao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference.
In Beijing, PM Lee will meet President Xi Jinping, who earlier this month assumed an unprecedented third five-year term as state president.
PM Lee will attend a welcome ceremony and lunch banquet hosted by Premier Li, and have meetings with chairman of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Wang Huning, and secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Beijing Municipal Committee Yin Li.
PM Lee’s visit to China – his first since the Covid-19 pandemic – comes during a time of heightened geopolitical unrest. Tensions between China and the US have been mounting, intensified by a multitude of factors such as ideological clashes and concerns over political espionage.
Earlier this month, PM Lee said the world cannot afford a conflict between China and the US, especially as China’s significance in the global economy grows.
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In an interview with Chinese broadcaster CCTV last week, he also pointed to political and security issues between Asean and China that need to be worked on, such as the code of conduct for the South China Sea.
During his stay in China, PM Lee will meet and be hosted to lunch in Guangzhou by the secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee Huang Kunming. He will also meet Singaporeans in Guangdong.
In Hainan, he will attend an official lunch hosted by Premier Li for the foreign leaders attending the BFA Annual Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is “An Uncertain World: Solidarity and Cooperation for Development amid Challenges”.
PM Lee will also have a meeting with secretary of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee Feng Fei.
During his trip, Lee will be accompanied by Mrs Lee; Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan; Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong; Health Minister Ong Ye Kung; Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann; and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Law Rahayu Mahzam.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong will be the Acting Prime Minister on Monday and Tuesday. Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean will be the Acting PM from Wednesday to Saturday.
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