Over the years through hard work and wisdom, Asia has maintained a sound momentum of overall peace and stability, as well as rapid economic development. Countries in the region have embarked on development paths characterized by mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation.

That is exemplified by China and Singapore, which enjoy broad consensuses on and common interests in safeguarding regional stability and pursuing shared development.

As friendly neighbors and important cooperative partners, China and Singapore have steered a steady course in their relations under the careful nurturing of successive generations of leaders of the two countries, setting a good example of how to cultivate and grow a cooperative relationship of mutual benefit and common development.

That the two sides upgraded bilateral relations to an "All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership" in March last year during the visit to China of Lee Hsien Loong, who was then the Singaporean prime minister, reflects their shared commitment to continually expanding bilateral cooperation.

With the regional situation volatile, and the world situation mired in uncertainties, China and Singapore should cement their bonds of friendship and continue to march forward hand-in-hand to the benefit of the two nations and the future stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific, President Xi Jinping told Lee, who is once again visiting China, this time in his new role as Singapore's senior minister.

Next year marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore. China is ready to work with Singapore to write a new chapter for their all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership. As Xi said, the two sides should strengthen the docking of their development strategies to bring more tangible benefits to the two peoples, and make greater contributions to the building of an Asian community with a shared future.

Singapore is welcome to seize the new opportunities of China's development, and to pursue new collaborations in forward-looking areas such as the digital and green economies and artificial intelligence, and to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

China is also willing to strengthen cooperation with Singapore in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to safeguard the peace dividend that the region enjoys and to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and advance universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

Lee's visit will help chart the course for the future development of China-Singapore relations and strengthen their consensus on the need to work together to cherish the hard-won momentum of development in the region.