China’s Han Zheng in Singapore for bilateral forum, in sign of return of high-level interactions

Chinese vice-premier co-chairs 18th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, is expected to meet top leaders

Meeting is ‘significant’ and ‘underlies the depth and breadth’ of Singapore-China ties amid recent political changes, analysts note

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Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng (left) meets Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat via video link in Beijing in December 2021 in a series of bilateral meetings. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:11pm, 1 Nov 2022Updated: 9:39pm, 1 Nov 2022

China’s Vice-Premier Han Zheng arrived in Singapore on Tuesday for a two-day work visit, in what analysts saw as a return of high-level interactions between the two countries after a period of relatively muted engagements due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Observers also suggested there was added significance to Han’s trip – the most senior Chinese state leader to visit the city state since the pandemic broke out in 2020 – amid recent political changes in both countries.

Han was part of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee until a recent leadership transition within the Chinese Communist Party. He was expected to meet Singapore’s leaders including President Halimah Yacob, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, according to a statement from the city state’s foreign ministry.

Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng during the closing ceremony of the 20th Party Congress on October 22, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE

As part of the visit, Han co-chaired the 18th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) – the highest-level annual forum between the two countries – with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. The forum is being held physically for the first time in two years.

During the meeting, the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in various areas including trade, finance, public health and pandemic response, and announced a total of 19 memorandums of understanding and agreements.

Heng had earlier described Han’s visit as a “significant milestone” as in-person engagements between leaders resumed progressively. It also served as an opportunity for China and Singapore to take stock of bilateral cooperation and chart the course ahead in an “increasingly uncertain global environment”, he said in an op-ed in national broadsheet The Straits Times on Monday.

“Singapore and China enjoy a long-standing partnership, anchored on the strong ties between our peoples and successive generations of leaders,” he said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had on the same day echoed similar sentiments, saying bilateral relations had “maintained excellent growth”. The visit by Han would allow China to “renew friendship with old and new friends with a focus on future advancement of China-Singapore cooperation”, Zhao said.