Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong set for first China trip since stepping down as prime minister

Former Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong will pay a six-day visit to China starting on Sunday, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Lee, now a senior minister, is one of China’s most frequently visiting foreign leaders – having made more than 10 trips as prime minister in the two decades from 2004.

He visited most recently in March last year, when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

This will be Lee’s first visit since stepping down as prime minister in May, when he passed the baton to Lawrence Wong – his deputy in the ruling People’s Action Party.

At a global forum in Singapore last month, Lee said that it would be “very unwise to write off China” despite its slow economic recovery, and emphasised that both the United States and China were in “danger of underestimating one another”.

China and Singapore, which upgraded relations to an “all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership” last year, will mark 35 years of diplomatic relations in 2025.