SHANGHAI, May 23 — Singapore’s relationship with China is grounded in mutual benefit, not common ethnicity, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on May 22.

“We are a Chinese-majority country, but we are a multiracial society. We are a separate country with separate sovereignty from China,” Lee told Singapore media in Shanghai, according to The Straits Times.

He added that Singapore is friends with both the US and China, and will take stances based on its own interests.

Lee noted that China is advancing quickly in AI and adapting to an ageing population — areas Singapore can learn from. In 2025, China became the largest source of fixed asset investment into Singapore, overtaking the US for the first time.

On US-China relations, Lee said stable ties are crucial for the world, but the issues are complex and “not something which can go away easily”.