On the afternoon of May 17, 2005, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Bangguo who had just arrived for an official good-will visit to Singapore held talks with Speaker of the Singaporean Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi at the parliamentary building. Chairman Wu and Speaker Abdullah exchanged in-depth views on bilateral relations, parliamentary exchanges and other issues of common interest in a friendly atmosphere and reached broad consensus.

Abdullah expressed warm welcome to Chairman Wu's visit, indicating he was much honored to receive such a distinguished guest from China at the parliamentary building. He said Chairman Wu's visit is of great significance to promoting Singapore-China relations and bilateral parliamentary exchanges.

Wu thanked Abdullah for his kind invitation and hospitable reception, expressing his delight to revisit Singapore 13 years later and to see the impressive changes. Wu made positive remarks over China-Singapore relations, noting that there have been frequent exchanges of visit by top leaders of the two countries, expanding mutual understanding and trust, and a good momentum of economic and trade cooperation in recent years. Remarkable achievements have been made in bilateral exchanges in science and technology, culture, education, personnel training and other fields. China-Singapore cooperation is featured by 1) sound mechanism and high level; 2) combination with domestic development strategies; and 3) mutual understanding and mutual trust. He stressed China attaches great importance to its relationship with Singapore and the aim of his current visit is aimed to promote the already good relations of friendly cooperation between the two countries in an all-round way. Abdullah said in addition to the frequent exchanges of visit at the top level, there have been sound exchanges between different departments of the two countries, some Chinese officials being trained in Singapore and a large number of Chinese students studying in Singapore, which have all helped drive the development of bilateral ties. Singapore is ready to increase exchanges and cooperation with China in various areas and at various levels so as to ensure the continuous development of bilateral ties.

When talking about parliamentary exchanges, Wu said members of parliament (MP) represent the people and the parliament should reflect the opinions of the people. The exchanges between parliaments constitute an important part of state-to-state relations and strengthening parliamentary exchanges will help promote mutual understanding and friendship between peoples of different countries. The exchanges and cooperation between the NPC and the Singaporean Parliament enjoy a good foundation as the two sides have established the Friendly MP Group, and the specialized committees and working agencies are also conducting beneficial cooperation. Despite the different social systems of the two countries, China and Singapore are both facing with the task of enhancing democracy and rule of law. The NPC is ready to strengthen friendly exchanges with the Singaporean Parliament between parliament leaders, specialized committees, the Friendly MP Group and working agencies, strengthening the sharing of experiences in legislation, supervision and relations with the voters, and boost bilateral personnel exchanges so as to enrich and invigorate bilateral relations. He invited the MPs of Singapore, especially the young ones, to pay visits to China and see for themselves what is happening there. Abdullah said he fully agreed with Chairman Wu's suggestions on enhancing bilateral parliamentary exchanges and encouraged the MPs of Singapore, especially the young ones, to pay visits to China to broaden their horizon.

Abdullah reaffirmed his country's consistent adherence to the one-China policy. Wu expressed his appreciations for Singapore's adherence to the one-China policy, stressing that it constitutes the political foundation for the development of bilateral relations. Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC Re Di was present at the talks. Following the talks, Wu and his wife Zhang Ruizhen attended the welcoming banquet hosted by Abdullah and his wife.