Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong (left) meeting Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang in Chongqing, China, on Dec 15. -- PHOTO: MDDI via The Straits Times/ANN
CHONGQING, China (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore and China announced a record 27 deals after top-level talks on Dec 15, including a pilot scheme to let Singaporean tourists use digital renminbi in China.
The new deliverables, spanning sectors from health and food to the digital economy, come as both countries call for deeper and broader ties amid geopolitical uncertainties, rapid technological changes and economic headwinds.
Against this backdrop, “it is therefore all the more important for Singapore and China to continue to find ways to cooperate, anticipating challenges and capitalising on new opportunities,” said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, speaking at the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), the apex bilateral platform.
Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, who is Gan’s co-chair for the JCBC, said in his opening remarks that despite rising global unilateralism, the relationship between China and Singapore had grown steadily, with cooperation yielding fruitful results.
He noted that trade between the two countries in the first 11 months of 2025 grew 8.8 per cent from a year earlier, while the number of flights between Singapore and China has also exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels.
The annual JCBC and related meetings are being held 2025 in the south-western Chinese city of Chongqing to mark the 10th anniversary of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI). It is a bilateral collaboration platform aimed at strengthening connectivity between western China and South-east Asia.
After nearly three hours of talks, both leaders witnessed the announcement of the 27 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and agreements.
Five of the documents set out plans for the CCI’s next decade, extending cooperation to new areas such as healthcare, education, green finance and digital trade, while building on its four initial areas of collaboration – financial services, aviation, transport and logistics, and information and communications technology.
Under one of the agreements announced, DBS Bank was named Singapore’s second renminbi clearing bank, after the Singapore branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
After nearly three hours of talks, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong (fifth from left) and Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang (fifth from right) witnessed the announcement of the 27 MOUs and agreements. -- PHOTO: MDDI via The Straits Times/ANN
DBS Bank China chief executive Ginger Cheng told The Straits Times that being part of the CCI has helped the bank expand its share of China’s offshore bond market, including issuing the first offshore renminbi bond under the initiative.
DBS used CCI’s cross-border investment channels to lead or participate in 44 offshore bank issuances totalling 57.3 billion yuan (S$10.48 billion), involving clients from Chongqing and neighbouring provinces such as Sichuan, Hubei and Shaanxi, she said.
Another agreement will allow Singapore travellers to China to use digital renminbi for purchases under a pilot programme.
Starting in December, the Singapore branches of the ICBC and the Bank of China will roll out the pilot in phases, enabling customers to open and top up digital renminbi wallets.
Digital renminbi payments can be made in China without internet, as long as users have phones equipped with near-field communication technology. China is one of the top destinations for Singapore travellers.
Other agreements include a protocol between Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and China’s General Administration of Customs to facilitate the export of processed meat from Singapore manufacturers to China.
The Ministry of Health also signed an MOU with China’s National Health Commission to work closer together in areas such as the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases; healthy ageing and aged care policy; and women’s and children’s health.
Another MOU was inked between the Ministry of Law and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade to cooperate in international commercial dispute resolution, intellectual property management, legal support for the growth of digital and green economies, and international trade policies and compliance.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China, commemorated by a series of high-level exchanges, including reciprocal visits by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, is on his second work visit to China in four months.
In his opening remarks at the JCBC, Gan noted that the relationship goes back much further than 35 years. “Early exchanges between Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Deng Xiaoping forged the mutual understanding and respect that have laid the foundation for our bilateral relations to grow and deepen.”
This foundation paved the way for the three government-to-government projects, namely the Suzhou Industrial Park, Tianjin Eco-City and the CCI.
An offshoot of the CCI is the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), a rail-and-sea multimodal transportation route. It moves cargo to and from Chongqing, Singapore and beyond, through Qinzhou Port in Guangxi autonomous region in southern China. Cargo volumes along the CCI-ILSTC grew 15 per cent between 2022 and 2024.
Singapore’s investments in Chongqing have doubled from US$5.7 billion (S$7.4 billion) in 2015 to US$12.7 billion in 2024. Trade between Chongqing and Singapore, its largest investor, also grew 15.5 per cent in 2024 from a year ago. -- The Straits Times/ANN
