On Dec 7, I will co-chair the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) with the People’s Republic of China Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang in Tianjin. The JCBC is the apex bilateral platform that reviews and sets the strategic direction for cooperation between Singapore and China.

Over the decades, our two countries have built a broad and deep partnership. We have collaborated through the different phases of our respective developmental journeys, via our three government-to-government projects (the Suzhou Industrial Park, the Tianjin Eco-City, and the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative); our state-level cooperation project, the Guangzhou Knowledge City; and our eight provincial business councils. In March 2023, we took another major step forward by upgrading our relations to an “All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership” under the guidance of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Xi Jinping.