Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng co-chaired the second annual Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation.

The two countries signed five agreements to push forward ties in areas like human resource training as well as science and technology.

A joint website that their private sectors can use to gather information about the two economies was also launched with the addresses www.csc.mti-mofcom.gov.sg and www.csc.mofcom-mti.gov.cn .

Wu's trip was the second visit here by a senior Chinese official in four months since National People's Congress chairman Wu Bangguo came in May.

Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had angered Beijing when he made a trip to Taipei last year just before becoming premier.

Singapore's insistence that Lee's visit was private and unofficial, and that its "One China" police remained unchanged, failed to soothe China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory waiting to be reunified by force if necessary.

Singapore-China ties have since improved after Lee in his first policy speech as prime minister reiterated Singapore's "one China" policy.

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