China, S'pore reaffirm ties with visit by Chinese minister Liu Jianchao
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(From left) Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann, Chinese Communist Party's Minister of the International Department Liu Jianchao and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman at a breakfast meeting in Singapore on July 14, 2022.
PHOTO: MFA
SINGAPORE - China and Singapore welcomed an increase in face-to-face meetings, with a visit by the Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Mr Liu Jianchao.
Mr Liu, who was appointed to the position in June, arrived in Singapore on Thursday (July 14) on a two-day working visit.
He was hosted to breakfast by Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Mohamad Maliki Osman. They were joined by Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann.
Dr Maliki, who is also Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, congratulated Mr Liu on his recent appointment.
Both men reaffirmed the longstanding relationship between Singapore and China, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The ministers noted that both countries had kept up high-level interactions amid the Covid-19 pandemic and welcomed an increase in face-to-face meetings moving forward, the ministry said.
They agreed that there were many areas where both sides could continue working together and learning from each other, and discussed regional and international developments, it added.
Mr Liu, a former Chinese ambassador to the Philippines and Indonesia and an anti-graft official, is seen as one of the front runners to become China's next foreign minister.
While the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs engages other countries at the state-to-state level, the International Liaison Department is an organ of the Central Committee of the CPC and advances the CPC's international relations.
Mr Liu will call on Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat on Friday.
