Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Singaporean Prime Minister

On March 31, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping right meets Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing. PHOTO XINHUA BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Friday.

Xi said that the bilateral relationship has been forward-looking, strategic and demonstrative, and has not only given a boost to the development and rejuvenation of the two countries, but also set a benchmark for countries in the region.

He noted that the two sides elevated bilateral ties to an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership during Lee's visit, charting the course for the future development of bilateral relations.

The Chinese president said that China is ready to strengthen strategic communication with the Singaporean side, deepen strategic alignment and make high quality the most distinctive feature of China-Singapore cooperation.

Xi pointed out that Singapore is the most involved in China's reform and opening-up and its interests are most closely integrated with China, as well as the Southeast Asian countries. He said that China is ready to share important opportunities with Singapore and other countries that are willing to cooperate with it.

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Xi said that China is willing to work with Singapore to improve the bilateral cooperation mechanism meetings, strengthen the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, deepen cooperation on digital and green development, and promote cross-border travel.

Asia has maintained a sound momentum of peace and stability, rapid development and overall improvement over the years, said Xi. He said that countries in the region have embarked on a development path with Asian characteristics including independence, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation through hard work and wisdom.

Against the backdrop of accelerating changes in the world previously not seen in a century, Xi said Asian countries should cherish and maintain the hard-won sound momentum of development in the region, maintain the right direction of economic globalization and regional economic integration, and firmly oppose bullying, decoupling or severing the supply and industrial chains.

No country should be allowed to deprive the people of Asia of their right to live a better and happier life, Xi said.

Prime Minister Lee expressed strong confidence in the resilience of the Chinese economy, and said he believes that the economy will continue to grow in a sound way.

He said Singapore and other neighboring countries look forward to furthering economic cooperation with China.

The Singaporean side looks forward to working with the new Chinese government as soon as possible to promote cooperation on major projects, such as connectivity, and to take the opportunity of upgrading the Singapore-China free trade agreement to send a clear message of China's continued opening-up and Singapore's commitment to further deepening cooperation with China, Lee said.

He pointed out that almost all countries in the world recognize that there is only one China in the world and have developed friendly and cooperative relations with China on the basis of the one-China policy.

He said that Taiwan is China's internal affair, and that Taiwan will lead to unpredictable and serious consequences tomorrow, despite the fact that Taiwan will be China's internal affair.

The two sides exchanged in-depth views on major-country relations and international and regional issues of common concern.