China, Singapore defense officials meet in Beijing

China's Minister of National Defense Dong Jun met Tuesday with Singapore's permanent secretary for defense, Chan Heng Kee, in Beijing.

According to a statement from China's Ministry of National Defense, Dong said that over the 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore, the traditional friendship between the two nations has been continuously strengthened and cooperation has yielded fruitful results.

He said the defense departments of both countries should implement the important consensus reached by their leaders, maintain regular exchanges at all levels and in various fields, and work to open new prospects for the development of bilateral relations.

China is willing to work with Singapore to strengthen coordination and cooperation on regional and multilateral platforms, firmly support each other's core interests and major concerns, and jointly safeguard international and regional peace and stability, Dong said.

Chan said Singapore and China share a comprehensive friendly relationship, with defense cooperation being an important pillar of their ties.

He said Singapore is firmly committed to further enhancing defense cooperation with China and reiterated Singapore's adherence to the one-China policy.

Chan added that Singapore is willing to continue to strengthen high-level exchanges with China, expand and deepen joint exercises and training, institutional exchanges and multilateral cooperation, and promote greater development in relations between the two countries and their armed forces.