On October 23, 2008, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, met respectively with visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Great Hall of the People.

During his meeting with Nguyen Tan Dung, Wu said the two countries are close neighbors and in recent years both sides have witnessed increasing political mutual trust, expanding economic and trade cooperation and frequent exchanges between political parties. "When profound changes are taking place in international and regional situations, to strengthen bilateral relations is in the fundamental interest of both China and Vietnam," Wu said. He said the Chinese side attaches high importance to relations with Vietnam, and will work with it to grasp the bilateral relations from a strategic and overall point of view, promote the traditional friendship, increase mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote a sound and stable development of the Sino-Vietnamese comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation for the benefit of both peoples.

Nguyen Tan Dung said China's development is conducive to regional peace, development and cooperation. Vietnam values the traditional friendship with China, and good bilateral relations are in the interest of both sides. He said Vietnam will actively promote bilateral cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, technology and culture with China and promote in-depth development of bilateral relations.

In the meeting with Lee, Wu said that China-Singapore friendship enjoys a firm basis with the in-depth development of bilateral ties. The two countries had close exchanges between their leaders, active people-to-people exchanges, fruitful economic cooperation and good exchanges and coordination in international and regional affairs. "The free trade agreement (FTA) the two countries signed today is of great and far-reaching significance to enhancing bilateral ties, especially economic and trade cooperation," Wu said. He noted that China attaches high importance to relations with Singapore, and will join hands with it to further promote the bilateral relations. "Facing the financial crisis triggered by the U.S. credit crunch, China will strengthen cooperation with the international community including Singapore to maintain international financial and economic stability," Wu said.

Lee echoed Wu as saying that he was satisfied with the development of bilateral relations. With the signing of the FTA, the trade and economic cooperation between Singapore and China will enter a new stage, and will strongly promote the bilateral relations as well as cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Lee said though the world economy is facing a tough situation, China has sent an important signal to the world by continuing to push forward free trade and opening-up to the outside. No country could cope with the current financial crisis by itself. Singapore will keep close coordination with China and contribute to the easing of the global financial difficulties, the prime minister said.