Top-level defence hotline to be set up

Meeting of minds: Li (left) shaking hands with Ng in Singapore. — Bloomberg

China and Singapore laid the groundwork for a hotline between the two countries that would establish a high-level communications link between Beijing and the city-state.

Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, a general in China’s People’s Liberation Army who was named minister in March, signed a memorandum of understanding with his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen to work towards establishing a secure telephone link “for high-level communications between our defence leaders”, according to a statement released by Singapore.