[SINGAPORE] Singapore’s Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing will make his introductory visit to China from Monday (Sep 15) to Thursday, following an official trip to the United States last week.
This will be his first visit to China in his capacity as defence minister.
Chan, who is also coordinating minister for public services, will meet senior Chinese leaders in Beijing and speak at the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.
The forum, co-organised by the China Association of Military Sciences and the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, brings together defence, military and foreign affairs leaders from around the world to discuss a range of security issues.
Chan’s visit “underscores the longstanding, warm and friendly bilateral defence relationship between Singapore and China”, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said on Sunday.
During the trip, he will visit the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) National Defense University, where he will engage senior PLA and provincial officials in a roundtable discussion. He will also be hosted to a visit to the PLA Southern Theatre Command (STC) in Guangzhou and the STC Navy in Zhanjiang.
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He will be accompanied by Chief of Army Major-General Cai Dexian and other Mindef officials.
Chan’s trip to China follows his first official visit as defence minister to the US from Sep 9 to 13, where he met US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and other political leaders.
While in the US, he also visited Singapore troops training at Exercise Forging Sabre in Idaho, and announced the acquisition of four Boeing P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft to replace the Republic’s ageing Fokker-50 fleet.
