Singapore’s PM-in-waiting Heng Swee Keat and 4G leaders visit China for high-level talks

Ten ministers will visit Chongqing, Tianjin and Beijing at the invitation of Vice-Premier Han Zheng, Beijing’s point person on Hong Kong affairs

Heng will co-chair the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, the highest-level annual forum between Singapore and China

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Heng Swee Keat, who has been designated as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s successor. Photo: AFP

Dewey Simin BeijingandBhavan Jaipragasin Hong Kong

Published: 7:17pm, 14 Oct 2019Updated: 5:56pm, 18 Dec 2019

Singapore’s younger ministers who are being primed to take power from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s administration on Monday began a four-day visit to China for high-level bilateral talks that analysts predict will be dominated by joint concerns about the bleak outlook for the global economy.

Heng Swee Keat, the deputy prime minister who has been designated as Lee’s successor, will for the first time take on the mantle of being co-chair to the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) – the highest level annual forum between the two countries.

Heng took over as the Singaporean co-chair of the JCBC from Teo Chee Hean, a long time deputy to Lee who stepped down from that position earlier this year to become a senior minister.

Heng and nine other ministers will visit Chongqing, Tianjin and Beijing at the invitation of the JCBC’s Chinese co-chair, Vice-Premier Han Zheng, who also serves as the mainland government’s point man for Hong Kong affairs.

Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng. Photo: Pool

Among the heavyweights in the Singapore delegation are trade and industry minister Chan Chun Sing, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, and Manpower Minister Josephine Teo – key members of the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) next generation “4G” team expected to form the core of Heng’s cabinet when he succeeds Lee.