PARLIAMENTARY REPLY

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WRITTEN REPLY BY MINISTER FOR DEFENCE DR NG ENG HEN TO PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION ON BILATERAL MILITARY CO-OPERATION WITH ON 7 OCT 2019

1. Singapore’s defence ties with China are healthy and growing. The Singapore Armed Forces

(SAF) conducts regular exercises with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The flagship bilateral

Army Exercise Cooperation was successfully completed in Singapore this year, progressing to company-plus level exercises. The Singapore Army looks forward to Exercise Cooperation 2020 in

China. When the Exercise Cooperation was held in Nanjing in 2014, I witnessed the good rapport and professionalism on both sides there. Our Navy also successfully co-organised the inaugural

ASEAN-China Maritime Exercise with the PLA Navy in October last year. I visited the exercise troops in Zhanjiang, and was happy to learn that they were using RSN’s platform – the Information Fusion

Centre’s Real-Time Information Sharing System (IRIS) – to provide a common situation picture for the conduct of the exercise.

2. Engagements between the military commanders and defence officials are frequent and productive. The Chief of Defence Force conducted his introductory visit to China in September

2018 and met his counterpart the PLA Chief of Joint Staff GEN . In November 2018,

MINDEF Communications Organisation Public Communications Directorate MINDEF Building, 303 Gombak Drive, #01-26 Singapore 669645 Tel: 9228 6190 Fax: 6769 5139

SAF’s Chief of Air Force visited the Zhuhai Airshow and met Commander of the PLA Air Force GEN

Ding Laihang. More recently in April 2019, SAF’s Chief of Navy attended the International Fleet

Review in Qingdao in commemoration of the PLA Navy’s 70th anniversary, hosted by Commander of the PLA Navy ADM .

3. China Minister of National Defense and State Councilor GEN conducted his introductory visit and attended the 18th Shangri-La Dialogue earlier this year, the first time since

2011 that China was represented by their Defence Minister. I attend the Beijing Xiangshan Forum regularly and later this month, on their invitation, I will attend the 7th Military World Games

Opening Ceremony and speak at the 9th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

4. Both China and Singapore have agreed in principle to step up defence cooperation and deepen defence ties further. To institutionalise and implement these efforts, both Ministries are actively working to conclude an enhanced Agreement on Defence Exchanges and Security

Cooperation (ADESC), which was first signed in 2008. Among the items considered are formalising high-level dialogues and greater cooperation between the various Services, and academic and think-tank exchanges. We also want to increase the scale of existing bilateral exercises.

5. Looking ahead, 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Singapore-China diplomatic relations.

Both defence establishments are exploring ways to commemorate the anniversary including through our flagship bilateral exercises – Exercise Maritime Cooperation and Exercise Cooperation

– next year.

6. These positive developments reflect the confidence and understanding of both countries towards each other, anchored on the shared goal of maintaining stability in our region through

2 military cooperation. MINDEF and the SAF look forward to continue working with the Chinese defence establishment to build trust and cooperate in areas of mutual interest.

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