Mr. Lee claimed that although the ASEAN nations share a similar position on the South China Sea, they also have differing regional viewpoints.
Because the South China Sea is a “vital arteries for global trade,” he continued, Singapore has an interest in freedom of navigation and the application of global rules.
According to Mr. Albanese, Australia is a powerful proponent of the rule of the ocean and has argued that the South China Sea’s freedom of navigation is crucial.
Our position on China continues to be very constant, with the statement,” We want to engage where we can, we’ll believe where we must, but we will often participate in our federal interest,” he said.
Independent TRADE AGENCY
Given the country’s trade restrictions on some Australian products, Mr. Lee and Mr. Albanese responded to a question about whether China should be allowed to sign up for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership ( CPTPP ).
A major contributor to the CPTPP is Australia and Singapore, which is mostly a free trade agreement. The UK joined the business alliance in July 2023, becoming the first non-finance part and the 12th representative.
Both prime ministers made the point that a consensus must exist between all events before any nation you visit the relationship.
Any nation that wants to abide by the terms and regulations of the agreement must show that it can comply with, employ, and follow the rules and standards. And so that is the environment in which any program may be taken into account,” said Mr. Albanese.
Mr. Lee once more stated that the CPTPP is an open-trade organization.  ,
China can use and add, provided it adheres to the standards and requirements of the CPTPP, he said.” It is meant to permit the accession of new users.
Country- AUSTRALIA Relationships
According to a press release from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( MFA ), the two leaders earlier held a meeting where they reaffirmed the “excellent” state of bilateral relations.  ,
They even noted the positive progress being made in bilateral cooperation across the six pillars of the Singapore-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership ( CSP), which include finance and business, defense and foreign politics, science and innovation, people-to-people, digital economy, and natural market.  ,
At the click event, Mr. Lee remarked that the Singapore Armed Forces train at Queensland’s Shoalwater Bay and that their defense cooperation is a major component of the CSP.  ,
” We are glad that we are working with Australia to create a new training place at Greenvale, even in Queensland, and we are deeply grateful for our coaching place at Shoalwater Bay.” Although it will take longer than we had anticipated, he continued,” we are working through the problems.”
” And on the other part, we welcome American aircraft and boats to Singapore, which they do.” When the American new ships are willing, we welcome them to attend Changi Naval Base in due course, as I have previously stated and reiterated to the prime minister on this visit.
The filing of a Memorandum of Understanding to promote sea decarbonization and digitalization was even welcomed by the excellent ministers.
Singapore and Australia collaborate with interested parties to look into potential ways to create zero or near-zero greenhouse gas emission energy supply stores for the sea market. These include creating the necessary equipment, formalizing specifications, and developing and putting in place the training requirements.