Ng Eng Hen meets China's top military official, reaffirms defence ties

Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen met China's top-ranking military official, General Zhang Youxia, in Beijing on Sept 12 to reaffirm bilateral defence ties and discuss ways to deepen practical cooperation.

- Lim Min Zhang

Dr Ng is on a three-day trip to the Chinese capital to attend the 11th Xiangshan Forum, a high-level international security conference akin to Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue.

This is his first bilateral meeting with Gen Zhang, who is the firstranked of two vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, China's top military decision-making body headed by President Xi Jinping.

Gen Zhang, 74, is seen as a close ally of Mr Xi, and one of the few senior military officers with combat experience, from the SinoVietnamese war of 1979. He was appointed to a new term in the Communist Party of China's powerful Politburo in 2022 despite being over the unofficial retirement age of 68.