Chinese vice premier calls for enhancing cooperation with Singapore

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore, Nov. 2, 2022. Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng visited Singapore from Tuesday to Wednesday upon invitation and co-chaired four meetings of bilateral cooperation mechanisms here. During his visit, Han met with Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, respectively. Han co-hosted with Heng on Tuesday the 18th China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation Meeting, the 23rd China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Joint Steering Council Meeting, the 14th China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Joint Steering Council Meeting and the 6th China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Joint Steering Council Meeting. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

SINGAPORE, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng visited Singapore from Tuesday to Wednesday upon invitation and co-chaired four meetings of bilateral cooperation mechanisms here, saying that China will continue to deepen cooperation and mutual learning with Singapore to promote the modernization causes of both countries.

During his visit, Han met with Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, respectively.

When meeting with Singaporean leaders, Han first conveyed cordial greetings from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to President Halimah and Prime Minister Lee. Halimah and Lee expressed their gratitude and asked Han to convey their good wishes to Chinese leaders and their congratulations on the success of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Currently, China-Singapore relations maintain a sound momentum of development, which not only helps the development of the two countries, but also contributes to the development of the region and the world, Han said.

Noting the 20th CPC National Congress has made it clear that the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts should be advanced through a Chinese path to modernization, Han said development is the CPC's top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country, and China is committed to achieving high-quality development and high-level opening-up.

The two countries share a lot of common ground on modernization, he said, calling on the two sides to follow through the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, in order to further promote bilateral ties.

He also called for promoting the transformation and upgrading of cooperation projects to set a benchmark for high-quality cooperation, and deepening economic globalization and regional integration to maintain regional prosperity and stability.

China welcomes Singapore's positive response to the Global Development Initiative and expects the two sides to translate the consensus into actions and inject strong impetus into regional development, Han added.

Halimah, Lee and other Singaporean leaders said that Singapore and China have long-standing and time-tested friendship. Attaching great importance to developing relations with China, Singapore stands ready to keep close high-level interaction with China and strengthen practical cooperation in various fields, so as to take bilateral relations to a new high and benefit the two countries and their people, they added.

They expect China to achieve greater development and are willing to work with the Chinese side to safeguard the multilateral trading system and rules, promote regional stability and openness, and promote sustainable development of the world.

On Tuesday, Han co-hosted with Heng the 18th China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation Meeting, the 23rd China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Joint Steering Council Meeting, the 14th China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Joint Steering Council Meeting and the 6th China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Joint Steering Council Meeting.

They reviewed the bilateral practical cooperation in an all-round way, focused on and exchanged views on the Belt and Road Initiative, economy and trade, sustainable development, innovation, finance, public health and people-to-people exchanges, and mapped out priorities for future cooperation.

The two sides agreed to foster stronger synergy between development strategies, strengthen cooperation in various fields for high-quality development, and further deepen cooperation on such projects as the Suzhou Industrial Park, Tianjin Eco-City, the Chongqing connectivity project, Guangzhou Knowledge City, and Singapore-China (Shenzhen) Smart City Initiative.

They also agreed to collaborate to build the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, speed up follow-up negotiations on upgrading the China-Singapore free trade agreement, implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership at a high level, coordinate and promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation, and enhance cooperation on leadership building to make governance systems and capabilities better suited to development needs.

After the meetings, Han and Heng jointly announced 19 important outcomes in such fields as green development, digital economy and connectivity between the two countries.