BEIJING: Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, with both sides pledging to advance bilateral friendship and cooperation.
Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was in Singapore for a two-day visit, the first leg of his three-nation tour, which will also take him to Malaysia and Cambodia.
China and Singapore upgraded their relations to an all-round, high-quality, future-oriented partnership in March when Lee visited Beijing.
During Friday’s meeting, Wang said the elevation of bilateral relations has opened new prospects for high-level mutually beneficial cooperation.
Highlighting Singapore has used Oriental values to advance its modernization process and find its own unique path of successful development, Wang voiced China’s support for Singapore’s continued growth and prosperity in accordance with the will of its people.
Lee pledged to carry on the Singapore-China friendship further, which he said enjoys a solid foundation built by the older-generation leadership of the two countries. The prime minister said the Singaporean side thinks highly of China’s determination and efforts to push its modernization and will jointly work to constantly move forward bilateral cooperation, opening a new chapter for future relations. Noting that the world today is not peaceful, Lee expressed expectations that major countries can play a leading role and secure mutual benefit and win-win results.
Singapore supports the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China to deepen cooperation and maintain regional peace, stability and development, he said.
Wang stressed that China has also found a path of development that suits its national conditions.
China’s development is the growth of peaceful forces and the enhancement of stabilizing factors, which will bring lasting benefits and development opportunities to all countries in the world, especially the neighboring countries, said the Chinese foreign minister.
He said the United States, out of its motive to maintain unipolar hegemony, is unwilling to see the development and revitalization of China and other emerging countries.
It condones and supports the “Taiwan independence” forces relying on the U.S. to seek the end, trying to cross China’s red lines. Meanwhile, it also tears away the pretense of fair competition and coerces other countries into unilateral protectionism against China, Wang said.
He added that these practices will only damage its own credibility, laying bare the fact that the U.S. has become the biggest destabilizing factor in the world. –The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
