Photo: VCG

 
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will start a six-day official visit to China from Monday to Saturday, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday.

As one of the foreign leaders who has visited China frequently, Lee's upcoming visit to China will further push bilateral relations and cooperation to a new level and play an exemplary and leading role in bilateral exchanges in the region and beyond, analysts said.

The Prime Minister will visit Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province, and attend the Opening Plenary of the Bo'ao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference and deliver a speech, according to the statement. He will also meet Chinese leaders in Beijing, the Prime Minister's Office said.

Lee's official visit to China delivers a strong message that ASEAN nations including Singapore have great interests to strengthen cooperation with China in various fields and there is a unified recognition toward China as a regional engine of economic growth, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

China and Singapore enjoy very good relations and two-way cooperation covers various extensive fields. The two countries established diplomatic ties in 1990 but actually the bilateral cooperation could date back to the period prior to the diplomatic ties were established, Lee said in an interview with CCTV on Friday.

That's why China and Singapore understand each other, and share mutual trust. Though with different opinions, we could work together and push the implementation of practical projects, Lee noted. 

Lee mentioned multiple successful projects between the two governments, including the Suzhou industrial park and also confirmed more projects can be launched between private enterprises of the two countries. 

Through working with China, Singapore has shown a strong willingness to grasp new development opportunities, expand and drive the regional economic integration, Li noted. 

China values Singapore and ASEAN's important role in upholding regional economic order and peace , and also possesses the good will to build a regional community with a shared future together with Singapore and other ASEAN countries, Li noted. 

The prime minister stated China and Singapore have more things to do, such as the free trade agreement between the two countries which has been revised and hopefully can finish the ongoing process of negotiations for review.

Global Times