On Nov. 22, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan had a telephone call with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi where they discussed the upcoming 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Corporation, due later in 2023.

Long standing and substantive

Vivian and Wang reaffirmed the long standing and substantive relationship between Singapore and China.

The relationship was upgraded to an "All Round High Quality Future Orientated Partnership" in April 2023 when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made an official visit to China.

They welcomed the steady improvement in flight connectivity between Singapore and China, and looked forward to strengthening people to people exchanges.

This has been a long-standing bilateral goal since the end of the pandemic, with flights being only at around 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in April 2023 but rising to around 70 per cent by September 2023, according to The Straits Times.

This number is likely to increase as SIA and Scoot resume certain routes to Chinese cities in the upcoming months.

JCBC

Vivian and Wang also looked forward to a fruitful 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), to be held in China later this year.

The JCBC is Singapore and China’s “apex bilateral platform for cooperation”.

The 18th edition of the JCBC, held in Singapore in 2022, was the first in-person edition since 2022 and was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and China's previous vice premier Han Zheng.

It saw a “bumper crop” of 19 memorandums of understanding signed between the two countries.

The 19th JCBC will be the first to be co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and China's executive Vice Premiere Ding Xuexiang.

Improved Tenor

Vivian and Wang also exchange views on regional and international issues, as well as the issues in the Middle East.

Vivian, welcomed the improved tenor of U.S.-China relations following the meeting between United States President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping.

The meeting took place around the Nov. 15 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting, the first time the pair had met in a year, in what was a relatively cordial meeting despite ongoing challenges in the bilateral relationship.

There were only a handful of concrete agreements during the talks, such as the resumption of high level military level communications and restrictions on fentanyl exports.

But the two sides also agreed to improve communications on topics such as climate action and artificial intelligence.

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Top image via Vivian Balakrishnan/Facebook