General

On March 27, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore arrived in Guangzhou for a six day official visit to China. During his visit to China, Premier Li Xianlong will visit Guangzhou, Boao, and Beijing. Li Xianlong previously stated in a media interview that China is the largest economy in the region and it is very important to establish an open, sustainable, mutually beneficial relationship with China. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference on March 27th that Prime Minister Li Xianlong was one of the most visited foreign leaders in China, and this time he came to China again after four years. China and Singapore are friendly close neighbors and important partners with each other, and their pragmatic cooperation is at the forefront of the region. China looks forward to promoting the upgrading of China Singapore relations and the development of international trade cooperation between the two countries towards higher quality through this visit.

The main itinerary in the announcement shows that Lee Hsien Loong met with some Singaporeans in Guangdong. Guangdong is a major economic province in China, where Singaporean citizens come to work, travel, and travel in China. In recent years, Singapore has close ties with Guangdong and has achieved remarkable results in cooperation in trade exchanges, talent exchange, technological innovation, intellectual property protection, and other fields. In 2014, Li Xianlong visited China for the fifth time since taking office, visiting high-tech development zones and technology enterprises in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Earlier this year, Gu Qingyang, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, in an interview with the media, specifically mentioned the role of the China Singapore Knowledge City located in Huangpu, Guangzhou, in promoting high-quality development in Guangdong, and stated that "Singapore attaches great importance to and actively participates in the construction of relevant projects in the Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Bay Area.". It is expected that Singapore will further strengthen its cooperative relationship with Guangdong.

Li Xianlong will also attend and deliver a speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia in Boao, Hainan. The theme of this session of the Boao Forum for Asia is "A world of uncertainty: unity and cooperation to meet challenges, openness and inclusiveness to promote development". The reporter learned that on March 15th of this year, the passenger route from Haikou to Singapore officially resumed. Accelerating the comprehensive resumption of direct flights will not only better facilitate personnel exchanges between the two countries, but also drive the gradual recovery of the cross-border tourism market between the two countries.

In Beijing, Li Xianlong will meet with Chinese leaders and attend relevant welcome ceremonies and luncheon activities. This also indicates that the economic and trade cooperation between China and Singapore is expected to continue to deepen and broaden. Previously, international trade cooperation between Singapore and China has not yet formed an intergovernmental cooperation mechanism. Since this year, exchanges between China and Singapore have become frequent. In February, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian visited Beijing. During this time, Beijing expressed its willingness to deepen economic and trade cooperation with Singapore, strengthen scientific research cooperation around key areas such as artificial intelligence and digital economy, and share practices and experiences in deepening urban governance. Singapore and many provinces and cities in China have established economic and trade cooperation mechanisms. As the cooperation between Beijing and Singapore gradually heats up, the establishment of a cooperation mechanism is just around the corner.

Throughout the development of China Singapore's economy and trade in recent years, China has become Singapore's largest trading partner in goods, its largest export market, its largest source of imports, and its third largest trading country in services. Since the "the Belt and Road" initiative was proposed in 2013, China has become Singapore's largest international trade partner for nine consecutive years. The two sides have extensive cooperation in trade, investment, finance, education, science and technology, and other fields. It is worth noting that against the backdrop of numerous difficulties in the world economy, the entry into force and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) has injected strong growth momentum into emerging markets. The rapid growth of trade activities under the RCEP framework is one of the important reasons for giving Southeast Asian economies strong growth vitality. As both members of RCEP, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Singapore has thus reached a new level. In 2022, the bilateral international trade volume between China and Singapore reached US $115.13 billion, an increase of 22.8% year-on-year. In the future, China and Singapore will focus on RCEP regional international industrial cooperation, multilateral and bilateral trade development, and strive to achieve new leaps.

In addition, the two countries also maintain positive interaction in cultural exchanges. Currently, China and Singapore hold activities such as the Chinese Culture Week and the Singapore Culture Week every year to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples.

China Singapore has strong complementarity in international trade, political and commercial connections, and a positive willingness to cooperate. In the face of new changes in the current international and regional situation, the governments and enterprises of the two countries are exerting their respective advantages to implement innovative, pragmatic, mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation with each other.