China's top diplomat is visiting Singapore from Wednesday to Friday, Aug. 19 to 21, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced in a press release issued on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Last visited Singapore in 2015

Yang, 70, is part of the 24-member Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

This will be Director Yang’s first visit to Singapore in his current capacity, MFA said.

During his visit, Yang will call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

He will also be hosted to lunch by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and breakfast by Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.

Yang last visited the city-state in October 2015 when he accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping on his first state visit to Singapore to mark 25 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Yang has also met Teo in Beijing in April last year, where they reaffirmed the "excellent state of bilateral relations", MFA said in a statement.

Yang is widely regarded as the chief architect of China's foreign policy.

He served as Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2013, and was the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. from 2001 to 2005.

Visiting South Korea next

After his trip to Singapore, Yang will be visiting Busan, South Korea, from Aug. 21 to 22, to meet Suh Hoon, the country's former intelligence chief and new national security adviser, CGTN reported.

The last time Yang visited South Korea was in July 2018.

The trip will also be the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic emerged that a high-level Beijing official is visiting South Korea, Reuters reported.

Trip comes amid rising tensions with U.S.

Yang's trip to these two Asian countries come at a time when U.S.-China relations have taken a devastating hit, with U.S. President Donald Trump launching a series of hostile actions towards China that worsened already fraught relations.

Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told South China Morning Post that the context underlying Yang's visit is "the current tensions between China and the U.S."

"Southeast Asia is a region where Beijing needs to ensure it [is seen positively] under these circumstances," he said, adding that Beijing sees it as a necessary move to counter American and Japanese efforts at reaching out to the region, in order to secure its interests in the area.

Top image via VCG