PUBLISHED ONSeptember 01, 2025 11:45 PMBYSean LerDeputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong is on a five-day working visit to China. During the trip, he will visit Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing — where he will also attend commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Wednesday (Sept 3).
The visit, which started on Sunday (Aug 31), is DPM Gan's first in his capacity as deputy prime minister, said PMO in a statement.
His visit coincides with a series of commemorative bilateral milestones in 2025, including the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China, as well as the 15th anniversary of the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (CSGKC).
"Deputy Prime Minister Gan will meet with a range of counterparts to discuss new avenues to strengthen the bilateral partnership, and exchange views on regional and international developments," added PMO in its statement.
CSGKC is a state-level bilateral project which serves as a key landing pad for Singapore companies to access the Greater Bay Area — a megapolis of approximately 86 million, consisting of nine cities and two special administrative regions in southern China.
The nine cities comprises Dongguan, Foshan, Guangdong, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing and Zhongshan, while the two regions are Macau and Hong Kong.
On the second day of his visit (Sept 1), DPM Gan visited CSGKC, including the NUS Guangzhou Research Translation and Innovation Institute, the DBS Global Fintech Research and Development Centre, and agritech start-up Singrow.
He also met Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong over lunch, with the leaders reaffirming strong economic collaboration and longstanding people-to-people ties between Singapore and the province.
"Guangdong has been Singapore's top provincial trading partner in China for the last 36 consecutive years," said the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Monday (Sept 1).
The areas of cooperation between Guangdong and Singapore have expanded to include advanced manufacturing, digital economy, intellectual property rights protection, education and healthcare.
CNA reported Wang as saying that he would like to upgrade the CSGKC, noting the project has achieved strong progress.
"We also want to engage in deeper cooperation with Singapore, in terms of pharmaceutical industry, because Singapore is quite impressive in terms of biomedicine and we can also cooperate to establish international hospitals," Wang told CNA.
DPM Gan agreed that the CSGKC will continue to be a useful testbed for the development of new technologies and support knowledge sharing between both regions. He added that Singapore will need to study the proposal (to upgrade the CSGKC) in consultation with various partners.
On June 27, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow announced during a working visit to Guangzhou that Singapore plans to roll out self-driving buses in Punggol by the fourth quarter of 2025.
Since then, autonomous driving technology company WeRide, headquartered in Guangzhou, has brought its latest five-seater self-driving vehicles into Singapore.
AsiaOne understands that the Land Transport Authority will share further deployment details at a later date.
DPM Gan will also visit Shenzhen and Beijing.
In Shenzhen, he will visit Chinese companies and engage Singaporeans at a reception.
DPM Gan, who is also Trade and Industry Minister, will attend commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Wednesday.
Other Asean leaders attending the parade include Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Vietnam President Luong Cuong.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who had planned to visit China to attend the events, cancelled his trip on Saturday (Aug 30) due to ongoing protests in the country.
While in Beijing, DPM Gan will also meet Vice-President Han Zheng, Vice-Premier He Lifeng, and Minister for Commerce Wang Wentao.
DPM Gan is accompanied by Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling, as well as officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry.
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