The trip — Wong’s first to China since becoming prime minister just over a year ago — comes as the Southeast Asian country is navigating an increasingly fractured world. US-China tensions have soared over trade, technology restrictions and Taiwan, among other strategic issues.
Most recently, China has harshly criticised US strikes on Iran, while the Trump administration is nearing a July 9 deadline tied to its “reciprocal tariffs” regime on a broad range of nations.
While Singapore has long refused to pick sides between China and the US, similarly to many Southeast Asian nations its room for manoeuvre is narrowing as the superpower competition heats up.
In April, Singapore lowered its economic forecast for 2025 GDP growth to 0%-2% as the tariff war escalates, down from a previous estimate of 1%-3%.
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During their meeting, Xi urged both countries to ensure that bilateral ties proceed in the right direction, without losing momentum, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Calling on the two nations to support each other’s core interests and important concerns, Xi encouraged Singapore to deepen cooperation in fields like artificial intelligence.
Earlier this year, Singapore opened a probe into the possible role of Singapore-based entities’ in channeling Nvidia chips — critical to AI development — to China and potentially other countries facing technology restrictions by the US.
