DURING his 20 years as Singapore’s prime minister before he stepped down in May, Lee Hsien Loong made a total of 14 visits to China. This week, in his new role as senior minister, he is making a six-day official visit that begins on Sunday (Nov 24) and takes him to three cities: Suzhou, the capital Beijing, and Shanghai.
SM Lee’s last visit to China was in April 2023, when it was announced that Singapore and China had upgraded bilateral relations to an “All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership”.
While in Suzhou, a city in Jiangsu province, SM Lee will participate in commemorative activities for the 30th anniversary of the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), together with China’s Vice-Premier of the State Council He Lifeng.
In a statement on Sunday to announce SM Lee’s visit, Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office described it as a “significant milestone” for the first government-to-government project between Singapore and China.
SM Lee will meet and be hosted to lunch by He, and deliver remarks at a roundtable. SM Lee will also view an exhibition on the 30 years of achievements by SIP, participate in a tree-planting ceremony, and visit the exhibition centres of new joint projects by Singapore companies.
The SIP was established in 1994 to pilot economic reforms and industrialisation.
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Cumulatively, the SIP has attracted more than 5,000 foreign investment projects, with actual foreign investment utilisation exceeding US$40 billion.
In 2023, the project accounted for 368.6 billion yuan (S$68.6 billion) or about 14.9 per cent of Suzhou’s gross domestic product.
Besides the SIP, Singapore and China have two other government-to-government projects: the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city and the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity.
Meeting top leaders
On his visit, SM Lee will be accompanied by his wife Ho Ching, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Education Minister and Minister-in-charge of the SIP Chan Chun Sing, Senior Ministers of State Sim Ann and Low Yen Ling, and other government officials.
In Beijing, SM Lee will call on and be hosted to dinner by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Singapore leader will also meet Wang Huning, the chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Over in Shanghai, SM Lee will meet and be hosted to lunch by the Shanghai leadership. He will also meet overseas Singaporeans in Shanghai.
Among the prominent Singapore companies that have invested in Shanghai are CapitaLand, Keppel and DBS. Major Shanghai companies operating in Singapore include China UnionPay, Ctrip and Lufax.
In the first six months of 2024, the total trade between Singapore and Shanghai rose 15 per cent year on year to reach 61.6 billion yuan. This was driven by a 32 per cent growth in exports from Shanghai to Singapore, reaching 32.88 billion yuan.
As at June 2023, Singapore was Shanghai’s largest foreign investor. Cumulative actual investments reached US$25.99 billion in the first half of 2024. As at end-2022, Shanghai was also Singapore’s second-largest investment destination in China, behind Jiangsu province.
Investments from Singapore companies are largely concentrated in the real estate, financial services, manufacturing, lifestyle and consumer sectors.
