SINGAPORE – Senior Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao called on Deputy Prime Ministers Lawrence Wong and Heng Swee Keat on March 26, reaffirming the relations and cooperation between both countries.
Mr Liu, 60, who is Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is in Singapore from March 25 to 28 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. Mr Liu’s department is in charge of cultivating and maintaining relations with foreign political parties.
Mr Liu and DPM Wong, who is also Minister for Finance, reaffirmed the warm and longstanding relations between their countries and looked forward to the further strengthening of bilateral cooperation, said Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
They noted that 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), the first government-to-government project between both countries, and expressed confidence in the project’s continued growth and development, said MFA.
The SIP is the oldest of three flagship government-to-government projects; the other two are the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity.
Mr Liu and DPM Wong both look forward to the successful convening of the 20th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting to be held in Singapore later in 2024, MFA added in its statement.
The previous year’s edition was co-chaired by DPM Wong and Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang in December 2023 and included meetings held in Beijing and Tianjin.
Besides affirming the extensive people-to-people interactions between both countries at all levels, including youth and party-to-party exchanges, DPM Wong and Mr Liu also discussed the importance of an open, rules-based multilateral trading system and Asean-China relations for the region.
Mr Liu, widely seen as a possible contender for the post of China’s foreign minister by political pundits, also called on DPM Heng, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies.
Both welcomed “the strong momentum in bilateral cooperation, and reaffirmed both sides’ commitment to continued high-quality and forward-looking collaboration in both traditional and emerging areas”.
“They also agreed that despite the differences in size and socio-economic contexts of both countries, there was much that each side could learn from the other to address the needs of our populations and uplift their lives,” said MFA.
Both sides can work together to foster closer collaboration with regional and international partners to tackle shared challenges such as climate change, said the ministry.
Other topics discussed include the importance of citizen engagement, good governance, and investing in people and institutions, it added.
Dr Balakrishnan hosted Mr Liu to dinner on March 26.
During his time in Singapore, Mr Liu is also expected to call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Born in north-eastern Jilin province, Mr Liu has extensive diplomatic experience, having served as ambassador to the Philippines and Indonesia. A fluent English speaker, he is a former chief foreign ministry spokesman and studied international relations at the University of Oxford.
He has made several high-profile trips, including to the United States in January 2024, where he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer, and spoke at an event organised by the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
In July 2023, Mr Qin Gang was abruptly removed as China’s foreign minister and Mr Wang Yi was reappointed as foreign minister. Mr Liu is said to have been sharing some of Mr Wang’s heavy diplomatic load as he heads the CPC’s international liaison department.
Separately, China’s new ambassador to Singapore, Mr Cao Zhongming, arrived in the Republic on March 24, filling a post that had been empty since his predecessor, Ms Sun Haiyan, left in July 2023.
