Promotion of China-Singapore mutually beneficial cooperation to a new level

During his visit to Singapore, the Chinese president met with Singaporean President S. R. Nathan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister Gok Chok Tong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and exchanged profound views with them on China-Singapore relations, on international and regional issues of common concern, and reached consensus on a number of issues.

President Hu put forward a six-point proposal for deepening the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. The proposal includes maintaining high-level exchanges, bringing into full play the bilateral cooperation mechanism, bettering the intergovernmental flagship projects of the Suzhou Industrial Park and the Tianjin Ecological Area, and strengthening defensive security and multilateral cooperation.

The Chinese president announced in Singapore that to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore next year, China will provide Singapore with a pair of giant pandas for cooperative research. The announcement was warmly applauded by the Singaporean people who take this move as a symbol of the China-Singapore friendship.

Singaporean leaders spoke highly of the progress achieved in various cooperation fields. The two sides believed that cooperation was well conducted in such important chosen fields as high-tech, in facilitating Chinese enterprises to "go global", and in the training of human resources. The Suzhou Industrial Park has achieved outstanding progress in the past 15 years.

Proposal for tackling financial crisis

During his visits to Malaysia and Singapore, Hu gave a comprehensive and detailed account of the policies and measures China has adopted to fight the international financial crisis and the successes achieved in this regard.

The leaders of Malaysia and Singapore spoke highly of the positive and constructive role China has played in the fight against the financial crisis in Asia and the whole world and they were convinced that China would continue to play an important role in the "post-crisis" era.

A stable, dynamic and prosperous Chinese economy would contribute greatly to economic recovery in Asia and the world at large, they agreed.

On the issue of promoting sustained growth, Hu said the profound impact of the financial crisis is still evident and the world economic upturn is not yet firmly established. A comprehensive world economic recovery still faces many uncertainties and destabilizing factors, the president said.

In addition, the Doha Round negotiations have been fraught with difficulties and twists and turns, and global issues have become more pronounced. These are all daunting challenges to the full recovery and long-term growth of the world economy, including in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

At this critical juncture, "we should all the more get united, follow the principle of openness, cooperation and mutual benefit, strengthen coordination and work together to secure the momentum of world economic recovery and promote balanced and orderly economic growth," said the Chinese president.

Support for sound development of multilateral trading system

Hu expounded on China's position on opposing trade protectionism and supporting the multilateral trading system.

He said the APEC member economies should advance the World Trade Organization's Doha Round negotiations on the basis of locking in the existing achievements and respecting the Doha mandate.

"We are ready to speed up the settlement of the remaining issues and work for comprehensive and balanced outcomes at the negotiations at an early date in order to achieve the goals of the development round," Hu said.

"We must be committed to our promises, strongly oppose trade protectionism in all its manifestations, be vigilant against and correct the 'invisible' protectionism acts in various forms, reduce and eliminate trade barriers, and solve trade disputes through dialogue and coordination, thus creating favorable conditions for full recovery and long-term development of world economy," Hu said.