The top level forum for bilateral cooperation between Singapore and China — The Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting will be held in Beijing next Monday (Feb 27)。

The news was announced at a daily press briefing by China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang.

Geng Shuang said Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will visit China from Feb 26 to Mar 1, at the invitation of Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. They will be co-chairing the 13th JCBC meeting, as well as a series of meetings under its purview.

These Joint Steering Council (JSC) meetings on Government-to-Government (G-G) projects include the 18th meeting for Suzhou Industrial Park, the 9th meeting for Tianjin Eco-city, as well as the 1st meeting for the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI).

In his announcement, Geng Shuang also said:

"Singapore is an important member of ASEAN. China and Singapore has built an 'All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times', both countries have cooperated widely on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. China highly values relations with Singapore, and is willing to enhance political trust and strengthen practical cooperation, in order to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations."

Launched in November 2003 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Singapore and China have taken turns to host the meeting every year since it was started in 2004.

Last year was the first year in which the annual meeting did not take place, leading political observers to speculate that it was a sign of cooling bilateral relations.

The meeting was last held in Singapore in October 2015.

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Top photo from MCI.

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