Minister: We had Foreign Minister Wang Yi today here. Tomorrow, Secretary of State Kerry will be here. Both of them enroute to KL.
Then I will be going to KL myself tomorrow afternoon.We had a wide-ranging set of discussions with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, both on bilateral issues as well as regional issues.
Bilaterally, a number of things are happening. Good things between Singapore and China – of course SG50, we are also celebrating 25th anniversary of the formal establishment of diplomatic relationship.
Our President had a highly successful State Visit.
The President of China is expected to visit later this year.
We discussed that.
And a number of high level visits in between.
The Foreign Minister’s visit is one and next week, China will be represented by Vice President Li Yuanchao at our National Day Parade.
Vice Premier and PSC (Politburo Standing Committee) member Zhang Gaoli will be coming later this year for the JCBC (Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation), so a full set of meetings lined up.
Much on the agenda – in particular, we discussed the Western Region Project and how progress can be made on that.
We also discussed the China-Singapore FTA and how that can be pushed forward.
We want a high quality agreement and discussed how this can be teed up for later this year.
We also discussed some other issues.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with me about the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail and China’s interest in taking part in that, and I said in due course there will be a proper tender; it will be done transparently.
He also discussed the possibility of China and Singapore engaging in helping third countries, cooperating together for purposes of assisting third countries, and we welcomed that proposal.
We discussed a few other regional issues and then we also touched on the fact that we are going to become country coordinator – ASEAN’s country coordinator for China. We’ll hold that position for 3 years.
We are taking over from Thailand; we are taking over this week.
I said that we’re looking forward to a positive agenda.
One, for example, is the China-ASEAN FTA. We want to make sure that it’s a high quality FTA, upgraded, and we will work hard on that.
Second, next year – 2016 – is an important chapter in the China-ASEAN relationship and we want to have a good set of commemorative events on that.
We also discussed other issues.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke about South China Sea. I expressed my views. We had a very frank exchange of viewpoints. I said that it was important that trust is built up between China and ASEAN on this issue and that we should not let it dominate the agenda, it should not become the main item. There are many positive things between China and ASEAN.
At the same time, if it is an issue, we cannot sweep it under the carpet. We have to deal with it but we have to deal with it in a way that can engender trust and increase trust. And my own view was that we have the DOC, we need to make good progress on the COC. And the sooner we make progress, the better it is for China and for ASEAN.
That is a broad compass of what we discussed.
Media: Minister, on China’s Foreign Minister’s point that the South China Sea is not an intrinsic problem and that it will not affect relations, what’s your take on that?
Minister: Our view has always been that it is an issue there, we cannot ignore the fact that there is an issue. But we have to treat it in context, as the China-ASEAN relationship is much larger than the South China Sea issue and so we should focus on the positives. At the same time, we should try and see what we can do to manage this issue. We think that it is going to take a long time to try and deal with the individual claims and who is right and who is wrong and who owns what. But at least we can try and dial down the tensions and we think that one way of moving on it is to make progress on the COC – Code of Conduct. At least it tells people what sort of behaviour is accepted and not accepted.
Media: And regarding other parties making comments?
Minister: The Chinese Foreign Minister expressed his views on the role of non-regional countries in the South China Sea-related issues. I expressed Singapore’s view – which we have made public before – the claims have to be dealt with between the claimant states. Then ASEAN as a whole has an interest in the matter, even the non-claimant states, in making sure that tensions do not boil over, that we dial down the tensions and that there is peace. And I said, there are regional countries which are non-claimant states, not part of ASEAN, as well as non-regional countries with deep-seated historical links and presence in the region, and they have viewpoints on some issues, international issues outside of the claims. It’s not going to be practical to say that they have no say. We put forward our viewpoints on that.
Media: So what would Singapore’s role be then, going into the meetings that are about to take place, given that Singapore is a non-claimant state but evidently there are different interests among the different members. So what would Singapore’s role be in addressing this issue moving forward?
Minister: We have always been upfront and honest about where we stand. We take no position on the claims themselves but we want the claims to be dealt with in a way that doesn’t increase tensions. And we would like the countries to focus on the Code of Conduct and we would like to encourage everyone to move on a constructive approach.
Media: Minister, would you like to share your thoughts on the moratorium also that the Foreign Minister spoke about?
Minister: We discussed issues relating to the possible moratorium. The Foreign Minister said that China was not keen on that idea. And I said to him that whether it comes to the table depends on whether there is consensus within ASEAN, and that a number of ASEAN countries had talked about a possible moratorium – initially permanent, now temporary – but these are matters that need to be discussed. He was quite clear that China is unlikely to agree to any such proposal. Thank you.
Media: Minister, if I could just ask one more question. The Foreign Minister also spoke about the government-to-government project in China after Suzhou and Tianjin. Are there any more details on what this new project might be?
Minister: It’s a Western Region Project. It’s very important from China’s perspective, it’s part of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, opening up of the West. And it’s not so much that Singapore’s capital or technical know-how is needed. Our participation will have a demonstrative effect with Singapore’s commitment. And it is something that is of, I think, deep importance to China and us and we want it to succeed.
A lot of work has been done, is being done, and we hope that, later this year we would have moved a little further from where we are today.
Thank you.
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