PM Lawrence Wong meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC summit
· CNA · JoinSINGAPORE: Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday (Nov 15) on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Lima, Peru.
In a Facebook post, Mr Wong said both countries share a "close and multifaceted relationship" that was upgraded to an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership last year.
"Economic ties are robust. China is Singapore’s largest trading partner in goods; Singapore is China’s largest foreign investor," he added.
"As we mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year, I look forward to working with President Xi to further strengthen cooperation and take our relations to greater heights."
Mr Wong and Mr Xi "reviewed the excellent slate of bilateral cooperation, as demonstrated by the substantive deliverables of the 20th Singapore-China Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting held in Singapore earlier this week", Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a press statement.
They agreed that both countries should deepen cooperation in future-oriented areas such as the green and digital economies, it added.
"Both leaders also looked forward to the commemorative activities for the 30th anniversary of the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, which will be held in Suzhou later this month."
Mr Wong and Mr Xi also discussed regional and international developments, including the importance of upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system, and developments in the Taiwan Strait, said MFA.
"Singapore has a clear and consistent 'One China' policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence," it added.
Mr Wong is in Peru from Nov 14 to Nov 16 for the APEC Economic Leaders' Summit and will then travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the G20 Summit.
Peru is the host economy of APEC this year, while Brazil holds the G20 presidency.
Mr Wong also met his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at the summit in Lima.
"Australia and Singapore share a close and robust partnership, underpinned by shared values and similar strategic perspectives of the world," he wrote in a separate Facebook post.
He said he had a good discussion with Mr Albanese on global and regional developments, as well as the plans for the next phase of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
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