China's Minister of National Defence Dong Jun (left) and his Singapore counterpart, Dr Ng Eng Hen, reaffirmed the positive momentum in the bilateral defence relationship. - MINDEF
SINGAPORE: Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun called on his Singapore counterpart, Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) on Thursday (May 30) as part of his introductory visit to Singapore.
The visit underscored the longstanding, warm and friendly bilateral defence relations between Singapore and China, Mindef said in a statement.
During Admiral Dong’s visit, he co-chaired the third Singapore-China Defence Ministers’ Dialogue with Dr Ng after getting a guard-of-honour reception on the morning of May 30.
Both ministers in the dialogue reaffirmed the positive momentum in the bilateral defence relationship, which has been demonstrated through regular high-level exchanges, military-to-military interactions and growing academic exchanges between the defence establishments.
They expressed support for the conduct of the sixth edition of Exercise Cooperation between both countries’ armies and the third edition of Exercise Maritime Cooperation between the navies in China in 2024.
The dialogue is an initiative under the enhanced agreement on defence exchanges and security cooperation, which was signed in 2019.
Adm Dong, who was appointed China’s defence minister on Dec 29, 2023, will also meet Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean.
Visits to Changi Naval Base and the Republic of Singapore Navy’s Formidable-class frigate RSS Steadfast located there, as well as to the Singapore Navy Museum, are also on his itinerary.
On June 2, Adm Dong will speak at a plenary session titled China’s Approach To Global Security at the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue, which is held in Singapore.
At the defence summit, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, he will meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin. - The Straits Times/ANN
