Singapore, China reaffirm close ties, discuss cooperation in emerging areas
Deputy PM Lawrence Wong says over 20 agreements will be signed at the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting on Thursday
[BEIJING] Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday (Dec 6) discussed opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the digital economy, renewable and clean energy, and other emerging areas.
Meeting at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, they reaffirmed the multi-faceted and close ties between their two countries, “which has kept pace with the changing needs and priorities of both countries over the years”, said Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a statement.
On its part, China stands ready to work with Singapore to pursue even more ambitious goals in the “new era” of bilateral relations between the two countries, said Li.
Bilateral relations between Singapore and China were officially upgraded in April to an “all-round, high-quality, future-oriented partnership”, when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital.
In the months since the upgrade, both countries have maintained close exchanges and cooperation across various levels are becoming “closer and more efficient”, said Li.
“All of these demonstrate the strong vitality and great potential of this relationship,” he added.
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Wong is currently on a four-day official visit to China, which includes stops in Beijing and the neighbouring city of Tianjin.
This is the second time this year that Wong and Li have met, with the earlier meeting taking place in May during Wong’s previous trip to China.
Li, who became China’s new premier in March, is a former Shanghai party chief who is widely regarded as one of President Xi’s closest allies. Li was on track to take on the role after being promoted to the No 2 position in the Politburo Standing Committee – China’s highest echelon of power – at the Communist Party’s 20th Congress last October.
During their bilateral meeting on Wednesday, Wong and Li agreed that China and Singapore should continue to advance mutually beneficial cooperation as well as foster closer people-to-people bonds and build more business linkages.
Noting that China and Singapore’s relations are in “excellent order”, Wong said he is looking forward to co-chairing the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation – the apex bilateral platform between the two countries – on Thursday in Tianjin.
More than 20 agreements are set to be signed at the meeting, demonstrating the “breadth and depth” of Singapore and China’s relations, said Wong.
The pair also exchanged views on regional and global developments, and reaffirmed the need to maintain an “open, inclusive and rules-based regional architecture”.
On the same day, Wong also met with Vice-Premier He Lifeng, where they affirmed the good relations between Singapore and China.
Noting that he had first met Wong in 2017 when both countries inked an agreement on the Belt and Road initiative, He said he was “really happy to see (Wong) moving up to more important positions”.
While there are already some “important common understandings” reached between the leaders of both countries, the next step is for Singapore and China to “really earnestly follow through on these common understandings and translate them into concrete projects”, said He.
He added that he believes that such concretisation of common understandings will give a further boost to the relationship.
He, also regarded as one of President Xi’s closest allies, currently plays a prominent role in handling China’s financial, economic and trade issues.
Given He’s current role, Wong said it would be useful for the two leaders to “have a conversation and discussion on what more we can do between our two countries to advance our economic and financial cooperation”.
This will help benefit businesses in both countries, strengthen both economies and deepen trade and financial flows between China, Singapore and the wider region, said PMO.
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