Xi pledges to push China-Singapore ties to new height

China and Singapore should build on past achievements to create an even brighter future for the two countries, said Chinese President Xi Jinping in an article published Friday.

In the quarter of a century since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China and Singapore have helped, supported and learnt from each other, and this has contributed much to their respective development, Xi said in the signed piece, carried by Singapore's newspaper The Straits Times.

The article went public as Xi will kick off his state visit to Singapore later Friday at the invitation of Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

The past 25 years have witnessed leapfrog development in bilateral relations as China is now Singapore's biggest trading partner and Singapore is China's biggest source of investment and an important offshore RMB (renminbi) trading center, said the president.

In 2014, bilateral trade hit 79.74 billion U.S. dollars, a 28-fold increase over two decades ago.

Building on the success of the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-city, a third bilateral project of cooperation will be launched, Xi said, adding that the cooperation between the two countries in finance, science, technology, environmental protection, education, culture, social governance, law enforcement and security has been deepened and produced many deliverables.

Xi noted in the article that there are good reasons why China-Singapore relations have come such a long way.

First, the leaders of the two countries have approached bilateral relationship as one of strategic and long-term importance, and charted the course for its growth, he said, adding this has ensured the growth of China-Singapore ties in a fast-changing international environment.

Second, the two sides have formed synergy between China's development strategy and Singapore's unique strengths and development needs, fully leveraged the growing China-ASEAN relations and pursued practical and inclusive cooperation.

China and Singapore, Xi said, have also expanded cooperation into new areas, which represent the trend of the new era and are in keeping with both respective development strategies.

"This has provided an inexhaustible source of energy for growing China-Singapore relations," he said.

Noting that China-Singapore relations have reached a new historical starting point, Xi raised a three-point proposal so as to create a brighter future for bilateral ties.

The two nations should continue to provide leadership guidance by maintaining close high-level exchanges, strengthening political mutual trust, and enhancing strategic dialogue, he said.

Xi also called both countries to deepen and expand practical cooperation. "Our two countries should synergize our respective development strategies, expand converging interests, take solid steps to pursue cooperation projects, create new growth areas for cooperation and upgrade our practical cooperation," he said.

Moreover, the two sides should pursue close cooperation on regional and international affairs, Xi said, adding that both China and Singapore should jointly promote integration in the region, peace and development in Asia and prosperity of the people of the world. Endi