SINGAPORE: On June 8 (Monday), Seah Kian Peng posted a photo of an official delegation of Members of Parliament (MPs) who will be in China this week, which includes the Workers’ Party’s (WP) Sylvia Lim, who has been in Parliament since 2011.
The Speaker of the House wrote in a Facebook post that the invitation from China had come from his counterpart, Zhao Leji. Mr Zhao, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, is the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, after the party’s general secretary and the Premier.
The photo posted by Mr Seah showed Liang Eng Hwa (Bukit Panjang), Ms Lim, Poh Li San (Sembawang West), Wan Rizal (Jalan Besar), Elysa Chen (Bishan-Toa Payoh), and Nominated Member of Parliament Sanjeev Tiwari.
“We will start in Xiamen, then to Fuzhou and finally Beijing. And we will all be back on Saturday – 3 cities in 6 days. Looking forward to the meetings, the trip, and also getting to know fellow parliamentarians better,” wrote Mr Seah.
According to a post from the Parliament of Singapore, the trip underscores the strong bilateral ties between Singapore and China.
On their first day in Xiamen, the delegation visited Jimei University and the port of Xiamen, and in the evening, had a reception with Singaporeans who live in the city.
“The delegation will continue their engagements in Xiamen tomorrow, visiting more Singaporean and Chinese companies, before proceeding to Fuzhou and Beijing, where they will also engage with more overseas Singaporeans, and call on Chinese leaders to further strengthen bilateral ties,” the post added.
In several comments on Mr Seah’s post, Facebook users expressed appreciation that an opposition MP has been included on the trip.
“Glad you included Sylvia! Bravo, widen Sg interest,” wrote one.
This is not Ms Lim’s first official visit overseas. In 2023, she accompanied then-House Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and other MPs to Prague to mark the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Singapore and the Czech Republic.
“Accompanying Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin on an official trip, visiting the Czech legislature. The Czech Republic was part of Czechoslovakia under the Soviet sphere of influence; now it is firmly in the EU and NATO. Prague is beautiful by day and by night,” Ms Lim, who has chaired the WP since 2003, wrote at the time. /TISG
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