Sino-Singapore cooperation will move westward into China's inland provinces with lower labor and land costs, a move signaling that the two countries are pushing for deepened exchanges.

President Xi Jinping said that China hopes to set up innovative cooperation platforms with Singapore in the west part of China, in addition to pushing forward existing industrial parks and ecological cites located in eastern China.

Xi met Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday.

Xi said China has placed high hopes on Singapore facilitating China-ASEAN relations, as Singapore will be the coordinator between China and ASEAN next year.

Singapore and China jointly built Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-city, which have become two models for bilateral collaboration.

Lee said Singapore's cooperation with China must "focus on the long term" and that Singapore will take an active part in China's campaign to develop the western area.

China became Singapore's largest trading partner last year, achieving annual trade of $75.9 billion, said Duan Jielong, Chinese ambassador to Singapore. Last year, Singapore also became China's largest source of foreign investment. Last month, China and Singapore agreed to direct trade between the yuan and Singapore dollar, a step forward to the yuan's internationalization and to reinforce Singapore's status as a yuan offshore center in Asia.

More than 5,200 Chinese companies have financial interests in Singapore. Chinese players, like Sinochem, COSCO, Huawei, Wanke and e-commerce leaders Alibaba Group and Jingdong hope to use the Asian economic hub as a springboard to explore the larger Southeast Asian market.

Singapore has offered to expand cooperation with China's central and western areas, and next year marks the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China.

(China Daily 11/10/2014 page25)