China's Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi asked a favour of Singapore media - he wanted his well wishes conveyed to a taxi driver he met while hiking.

Wang was here in Singapore for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting from August 1 to 5. He met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong while he was here and both countries reaffirmed their "long-standing and warm" bilateral relations.

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A morning of history

In a video uploaded by Xinhua Hong Kong -- one of the regional headquarters of the Chinese official state-run press -- titled "Let Wang Yi tell you a story: Peace doesn't come by easily, treasure it", Wang was filmed telling the reporters about an encounter with a Singaporean taxi driver.

In short, he met this driver while hiking by chance. He said that the driver spent some time sharing about the part of Singapore's history when Japan invaded it, and how the area they were hiking in was bombarded by the Japanese during the war.

Both Singapore and China were invaded by the Japanese during the Second World War -- the Empire of Japan occupied the former for around three years and the latter for around eight years.

Here's the full translated transcript of what he said:

"Let me tell you a short story about what happened while I was hiking yesterday morning.

On the way up during the hike, I ran into a Singaporean man, probably a regular civilian.

For a while, we chatted while hiking up together. We hit it off right away.

He told me a lot about Singapore's history.

Coincidentally, there were a lot of traces of World War II left on the hill (that they were hiking in).

He took the time to tell me all about it, including how after the Japanese invaded Singapore and bombed the hill, many craters were formed on the hill.

This part of history lets us both appreciate the importance of peace. We should protect the current peace we have together.

At the beginning, he didn't know who I was.

Later, as we were parting, we ran into many Chinese tourists.

That was when this person realised who I was.

When I turned around to say goodbye to him, he had quietly left.

This encounter has been on my mind ever since. So I want to ask the reporters in Singapore to reach out to him.

I heard from my colleague he is a taxi driver.

Please tell him this: Hey, buddy, I wish you the best of health, and happiness in your life."

You can watch the video of Wang Yi telling his story here:

The hill where this hike took place

While Wang did not specifically mention where this hike took place, a likely location is the Southern Ridges trail that cuts through Hort Park, Bukit Chandu and Henderson Wave.

Bukit Chandu was the site where Lieutanent Adnan Saidi and his platoon of 42 men from the Malay Regiment held their ground along the ridge against thousands of Japanese troops for 48 hours.

Adnan and his men held their ground till they ran out of bullets and engaged the Japanese using their fists and bayonets.

The defenders did not surrender and those who were not killed in battle were massacred after capture.

Top image via Xinhua Hong Kong/FB