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China and Singapore must boost coordination as ‘stabilising forces’, Wang Yi says
Beijing’s top diplomat tells counterpart their countries can build on their strategic partnership in a world beset by turmoil and chaos
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China and Singapore must strengthen their strategic coordination and communication amid a world of turmoil, foreign minister Wang Yi told his visiting counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan in Beijing on Monday.
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The meeting was their second in less than two months after the envoys spoke on the sidelines of a regional ministerial conference in Vientiane, Laos, on July 27.
“China is willing to work with Singapore to better connect each other’s development strategies and put into practice the new positioning of an ‘all-round, high-quality and forward-looking partnership’ that had been jointly established by the leaders of the two countries,” said Wang, according to a Chinese foreign ministry read-out.
The upgrade of the bilateral relationship as the ministry described the partnership was announced in April last year, when then-Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Lee stepped down in May following more than two decades in office and was succeeded by Lawrence Wong, under whom the new Singaporean government is “committed … to enhancing and deepening our relationship with China”, Balakrishnan told Wang.
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