SINGAPORE, Aug. 11 -- Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, with both sides pledging to advance bilateral friendship and cooperation.
Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is in the city-state for a two-day visit, the first leg of his three-nation tour which also takes him to Malaysia and Cambodia.
Noting that the two countries elevated relations to an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership during Lee's visit to Beijing in March which has charted the course for future development of bilateral ties, Wang in the meeting expressed his confidence about the prospect of bilateral cooperation.
Under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders, China-Singapore relations will continue to take the lead for China in developing its relations with neighborhood countries, Wang said.
Highlighting Singapore has used oriental values to advance its modernization process and find its own unique path of successful development, Wang voiced China's support for Singapore's continued growth and prosperity in accordance with the will of its people.
Lee pledged to carry on Singapore-China friendship further, which he said enjoys a solid foundation built by older-generation leaderships of the two countries.
The prime minister said the Singapore side thinks highly of China's determination and efforts to push its modernization, and will jointly work to constantly move forward bilateral cooperation, opening a new chapter for future relations.
He said a leading role of major countries is anticipated in today's agitated world to seek mutual benefit and win-win results, and Singapore supports the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in deepening cooperation with China and jointly safeguarding regional peace, stability and development.
Wang stressed that China has also found a path of development which suits its national conditions.
China's development is the growth of peaceful forces and the enhancement of stabilizing factors, which will bring lasting benefits and development opportunities to all countries in the world, especially the neighborhood countries, said the Chinese foreign minister.
He said the United States, out of its motive to maintain unipolar hegemony, is unwilling to see the development and revitalization of China and other emerging countries.
On the one hand, it condones and supports the "Taiwan independence" forces relying on the United States to seek the end, trying to cross China's red lines; on the other hand, it tears away the pretense of fair competition and coerces other countries into unilateral protectionism against China, Wang said.
He added that these perverse practices will only damage its own credibility, laying bare the fact that the United States has become the biggest destabilizing factor in the world.
During his Singapore tour which began on Thursday, Wang also met with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
