China Singapore Photo:VCG

The visit to China by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Finance of the Republic of Singapore Lawrence Wong is set to infuse new ideas into the close partnership enjoyed by the two countries, which elevated their bilateral relations into an all-round, high-quality future-oriented partnership in March, Chinese analysts said on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Wong, telling Wong that China is willing to work with Singapore to grasp the nature of bilateral relations and make greater contributions to regional stability and prosperity. 

Li called on the two sides to take the further upgrading of the China-Singapore free trade agreement as an opportunity to make more achievements in the fields of digital economy, green development, financial service and ocean energy cooperation.

The Chinese premier called on the two sides to promote the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, and take the lead in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

China is willing to work with Singapore and other regional countries to enhance unity and coordination, and advance the negotiations on Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area to facilitate regional economic integration, Li said.

Also on Wednesday, in a meeting with Wong, He Lifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, said that China is willing to further synergize development strategies with Singapore and deepen high-quality cooperation in various fields.

In the meeting, Wong said that more than 20 memorandums of understanding on cooperation will be signed on Thursday, according to Singaporean news portal zaobao.com.

Wong is visiting China from December 5 to 8 at the invitation of Ding Xuexiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier.

Ding and Wong will co-chair the 19th meeting of the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, the 24th meeting of China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Joint Steering Council (JSC), the 15th meeting of the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City JSC and the seventh meeting of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity JSC in Tianjin on Thursday, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The series of meetings between the Singaporean DPM and top Chinese officials will further expedite economic and trade ties between the two countries, which already enjoy a close cooperative partnership, Zhao Gancheng, a research fellow from the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"Singapore is a major foreign investor in China and many Singaporean companies bore witness to and took part in China's reform and opening-up process," Zhao said. "It should be said that as a vanguard foreign investor in China, Singapore has acumen for new business opportunities in the Chinese market."

Zhao said Singaporean companies can participate in new Chinese development drives such as the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, which has recently been emphasized by the top Chinese leadership.

Bai Ming, researcher of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Singaporean companies could play a bigger role in China's dual circulation development pattern by providing better services for Chinese companies in the international economic cycle.

Wong's visit is his second to China after the COVID-19 pandemic - the first was in May. Since the beginning of the year, China and Singapore have been maintaining frequent high-level communications.

In March, China and Singapore pledged to elevate their ties to an all-round, high-quality future-oriented partnership as bilateral cooperation has shown strong resilience and vitality.

In April, China and Singapore announced that the two countries had completed "substantive negotiations" on the upgrading of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

Chinese analysts said an upgraded FTA is set to improve market access for each other's businesses and provide for more transparent and higher-level economic rules.

Specifically, Zhao predicted cooperation and exchanges would be intensified in some of the high-end sectors including shipping, futures trading and finance  areas - where Singapore has a leading advantage.

Singapore has ambitious plans for these areas and cooperation with China will lead to win-win results, Zhao said.

Chinese experts said Singapore is an essential part of regional and global financial markets and supply chains, and a stable China-Singapore relationship will promote the economic recovery of both countries, members of ASEAN and the world.

In November, more than 500 business representatives from 56 Singaporean companies participated in the 6th China International Import Expo, the largest delegation since 2020, according to the Singapore Business Federation.