Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's high-profile visit to China demonstrates the two countries are seeking political ties commensurate with their close economic relationship.

In his first official visit to China since taking office, Lee has met with four Chinese leaders since his arrival in Beijing Monday, including President Hu Jintao, top lawmaker Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and top political advisor Jia Qinglin.

"Lee's visit can be regarded as a tour for deeper political ties," Zhai Kun, a scholar with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said.

Relations between China and Singapore chilled after Lee's visit to Taiwan as deputy prime minister in July, 2004. But over the past few months, China-Singapore ties have been gradually repaired with Singapore's repeated promise of adhering to the one-China policy and high-level visits between the two countries.

In May this year, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, visited Singapore. Vice Premier Wu Yi also visited the country last month.

"China-Singapore political ties have returned back to normal and Lee's visit is likely to bring the relationship to a new level," Zhai said.

At the invitation of Premier Wen, Lee arrived in Beijing with a large entourage of cabinet ministers and a 40-member businessmen delegation.

Zhai said China and Singapore are very complementary in economy and trade. "As a mater of fact, Singapore has already taken the lead in expanding cooperation with China in the financial sector."

Reports said the Singaporean state-owned investment giant Temasek Holdings has bought shares in two of China's top four state-owned banks, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank, and a private bank, the China Minsheng Banking Corporation.

In addition, the Singaporean government also actively expressed its interest in participating in China's plans of developing its northeast and northwest regions.

Sources with the Foreign ministry said Lee is expected to leave Beijing for Tianjin Municipality and northeast China's Liaoning Province, where he is scheduled to visit several local factories.

"The Singaporean government has shown great political wisdom and insight in expanding economic cooperation with China, especially in encouraging its businessmen to seek opportunities in China's northeast and northwest regions," Zhai said.

Chinese customs figures show that in the first eight months of this year, Sino-Singaporean trade amounted to nearly 21 billion US dollars, close to the figure last year.

Lee's visit has draw attention to the China-Singapore free trade pact negotiations.

Reports said Singapore has long wished to start one-on-one negotiations with China under the framework of the China-ASEAN free trade area.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to set up a free trade area before 2010.

Prior to his visit, Lee told foreign media that he planned to push for talks aimed at negotiating a free trade pact during his China trip. But no information in this regard has yet been available.

Singapore is China's biggest trading partner in Southeast Asia, with total trade reaching 26.7 billion US dollars last year, up 38 percent from the previous year.

Source: Xinhua