The Singapore Consulate-General in Xiamen held a reception at the city’s Kempinski Hotel to celebrate the country’s 50th Golden Jubilee on Aug 7th, as well as the 25th anniversary of Sino-Singaporean relations. Guests from all walks of life attended.

Chi Chiew Sum (middle), Consul-General of the Republic of Singapore in Xiamen, Wang Tianming (left), Deputy Director-General of the Fujian Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, and Ni Chao (right) , Vice-Mayor of the Xiamen Municipal Goa. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

At the reception, Consul-General Chi Chiew Sum summarized the development of relations between China and Singapore during the past 25 years and pointed out that since 2013, China has become Singapore’s largest trading partner. China and Singapore have close people-to-people ties, frequent high-level exchanges and mutual trust across generations, he said

Meanwhile, the consul-general expressed his sincere wish for future cooperation between Singapore and Fujian Province as well as everlasting friendship between the two sides.

Wang Tianming, deputy Director-General of the Fujian Provincial Foreign Affairs Office remarked, “as the core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and one of the 2nd batch of China’s Free Trade Zones, Fujian now has an unprecedented opportunity to speed up its economic and social development. Fujian is taking an active part in jointly building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and endeavors to strengthen its ties with Southeast Asian countries in economy, trade and culture. We welcome more Singaporean enterprises to set up new projects or expand in the Fujian FTZ and deepen exchanges and cooperation.”

Ni Chao,Vice-Mayor of the Xiamen Municipal Government also gave a speech. The China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation Center is to open in Xiamen this September, and Singapore is to take over as the coordinating state of China-ASEAN relations. Xiamen is willing to join hands with Singapore and seize the opportunity to expand maritime cooperation.