SINGAPORE: Singapore Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong will visit China from Sunday (Nov 24) to Nov 29, where he will participate in events marking the 30th anniversary of Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) and meet with senior Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping.
The official visit will see him travelling to Suzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, said Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a press release on Sunday. It comes as Singapore and China forge closer cooperation, recently signing 25 agreements at their annual top-level bilateral meeting.
This is Mr Lee’s first visit to China since stepping down as Singapore prime minister in May and handing the leadership reins to Mr Lawrence Wong.
While in Suzhou, Mr Lee will take part in commemorative activities for the 30th anniversary of SIP, the first government-to-government project between Singapore and China, together with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. He will also be hosted to lunch by Mr He.
Mr Lee will deliver remarks at the roundtable on “High Quality Development in the SIP”, PMO said. He will visit the SIP 30-Year Achievement exhibition, participate in a tree-planting ceremony, and visit the exhibition centres of new joint projects by Singapore companies in SIP.
In Beijing, Mr Lee will call on and be hosted to dinner by Mr Xi, PMO said. He will also meet Mr Wang Huning, chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
When in Shanghai, Mr Lee will meet with the city’s leadership, PMO said. He will also meet overseas Singaporeans in the Chinese financial hub.
As of June 2023, Singapore was Shanghai’s largest foreign investor. Cumulative actual investments reached US$25.99 billion in the first half of 2024. As of end-2022, Shanghai was also Singapore’s second-largest investment destination in China, behind Jiangsu province.
Mr Lee will be accompanied by his wife Ho Ching, Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Education Minister and Minister-in-charge of Suzhou Industrial Park Chan Chun Sing, Senior Ministers of State Sim Ann and Low Yen Ling, as well as officials from various ministries, PMO said.
The senior minister’s trip to China comes close to two weeks after a working visit to the United States. While in the US, Mr Lee delivered a lecture at Harvard University, marked the 40th anniversary of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC’s presence in the country, and engaged with prominent US-based strategic thinkers and corporate leaders.
Mr Lee last visited China in March 2023, when he was still Singapore’s prime minister. He met with Mr Xi, and they agreed to upgrade ties between the two countries to an “All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership”.
His successor Mr Wong has also met Mr Xi – they did so on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Lima, Peru on Nov 15.
According to Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, they “reviewed the excellent slate of bilateral cooperation” and agreed that both countries should deepen cooperation in future-oriented areas such as the green and digital economies.
Singapore and China mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year.
