BEIJING, China — Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong will be making an official visit to China from Tuesday (Dec 5) to Friday to attend the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) forum as its co-chair, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

During the four-day trip, Mr Wong will visit Beijing and Tianjin at the invitation of Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, and will also call on Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who took office in March,

This will be Mr Wong’s second official visit to China since he was appointed as deputy prime minister. Mr Wong, who is next in line to be Singapore’s prime minister, last visited the country in May where he reaffirmed bilateral ties and took stock of cooperation between the two countries.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement that both Mr Wong and Mr Ding will co-chair the JCBC on Thursday in Tianjin.

Now in its 19th round, the annual forum is the highest platform for both countries to review areas for bilateral cooperation.

"The JCBC is the institutionalised annual apex-level platform that reviews the substantive collaboration between Singapore and China and charts the direction for cooperation between the two countries," PMO said.

This is the first time that Mr Wong is co-chairing the JCBC, taking over Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat who chaired last year's forum held in Singapore. 

A total of 19 agreements were inked that year, such as those relating to green development and finance, public health as well as innovation cooperation.

For 2023, the upcoming JCBC will mark the first one since both nations upgraded their bilateral relationship to an “All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership” earlier this year.

Apart from the forum, Mr Wong and Mr Ding will also be chairing related joint steering councils to review three "flagship government-to-government projects" under the JCBC, namely the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity.

They will take part in activities in Tianjin to mark the 15th anniversary of the Tianjin Eco-City, PMO said.

Mr Wong is also slated to meet Mr Chen Min’er, Secretary of the Communist Party of China Tianjin Municipal Committee, Mr He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the State Council, and Mr Lan Fo’an, Minister of Finance.

As part of his schedule, Mr Wong will be meeting Singaporeans in Beijing during the trip.

The Singapore delegation in China includes several Cabinet ministers:

• Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry
• Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Education
• Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health
• Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Communications and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs 
• Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development
• Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs 
• Mr Chee Hong Tat, Acting Minister for Transport

Other political office-holders and senior officials from the various ministries and agencies will also accompany Mr Wong during the visit.