Chinese Vice-Premier calls on President Halimah and PM Lee

SINGAPORE – Visiting Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng met top Singapore leaders on Wednesday, including President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, reaffirming bilateral ties and reviewing existing cooperation.

Mr Han co-chaired the top-level Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) on Tuesday that resulted in

19 deals to improve cooperation, including in connectivity and the green and digital economy.

In a Facebook post, Madam Halimah thanked Mr Han for China’s hospitality during her visit to Beijing in February for the Winter Olympics, when she met President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

They reaffirmed the longstanding and warm relations between Singapore and China during Mr Han’s call on the President at the Istana.

“We should continue to build upon the good momentum in our collaboration, leveraging existing bilateral projects and platforms as well as seizing new opportunities in the digital age to create sustainable and inclusive growth and improve the lives of our peoples,” Madam Halimah said in her post.

They also discussed climate-related issues.

“We agreed that it was an issue that affected all of us, and it was important for Singapore and China to continue our collaborations on the issue,” she added.

The bedrock of mutual trust in bilateral relations is formed by people-to-people ties, she said, adding that both countries are gradually making progress in restoring these ties after disruptions because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I am heartened that Singaporean students are now able to return to China to resume their studies. It is important for the younger generation to build friendships early, which will be in the long-term benefit of our countries,” she said.

PM Lee said both countries continued growing collaboration and expanding it into new areas even throughout the pandemic.

“We had a productive discussion on regional and international issues. I emphasised Singapore’s hope that US-China relations could stabilise, and both sides would keep channels of communication open,” he added on Facebook.

“Vice-Premier Han’s visit underscores both our countries’ commitments to keep up our high-level interactions. I look forward to visiting China soon, to connect with the new Chinese leadership and renew ties with old friends.”

Mr Han also met Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean on Wednesday and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong a day earlier.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday that the leaders reaffirmed the excellent ties between Singapore and China.

Both countries have kept up high-level interactions during the pandemic, including through virtual meetings and bilateral visits, added MFA, noting that Mr Han’s visit to Singapore was his first overseas one since the pandemic began.

The leaders welcomed the growing and wide-ranging cooperation between both countries in traditional areas such as finance, trade and investments, as well as emerging ones such as innovation, digital economy and green development.

This was evident from the substantive outcomes of the 18th JCBC – which Mr Han co-chaired with Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat – and related meetings on government-to-government projects, said MFA.

In a Facebook post, Mr Teo said he and Mr Han are “old friends” who last met in 2018. Both were the co-chairmen of the JCBC then.

Mr Teo said he had a good discussion with Mr Han on regional and international developments, as well as dealing with common challenges such as ageing, public health and housing.