Singapore to restart high-level social governance forum with China in June

SM Teo looking forward to hosting Chinese security chief at meeting, last held in 2016

- Lim Min Zhang

BEIJING Singapore will be restarting a high-level bilateral forum with China and it is scheduled to take place in the Republic in June.

Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said the Singapore-China Social Governance Forum is important as an avenue of discussion for many issues that both countries are facing in social governance.

The forum was last held in 2016.

Mr Teo was speaking during a meeting with China's security chief Chen Wenqing on March 22.

"We're planning to meet in June this year in Singapore, and we look forward to welcoming Secretary Chen to Singapore," Mr Teo said at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where the two leaders met for the first time.

Mr Chen is the secretary of China's Political and Legal Affairs Commission, which oversees the country's law enforcement apparatus, including the police, courts, and the prosecutor's office.

Mr Teo was on the last day of a six-day official visit to China - his first to the country since 2019 during which he also made stops in Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces.

A day earlier in Beijing, Mr Teo had emphasised the importance of bilateral exchanges between government and party officials in a meeting with Central Party School president Chen Xi.

The Singapore-China Social Governance Forum was first held in Singapore in 2012. A meeting in Beijing followed in 2014 for key officials from both countries to share experiences in topics such as managing interracial and religious diversity.