China on Wednesday again urged Singapore to strictly abide by the one-China policy, after Hong Kong authorities said they would return armored vehicles to the city-state that were detained two months ago.
"We hope Singapore can cooperate with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to handle the follow-up issues and take warning from the incident," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing.
Nine Singaporean armored vehicles, reportedly used in military drills in Taiwan, were seized by Hong Kong customs on Nov. 23, 2016 while in transit at a dock in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Commissioner of Hong Kong Customs and Excise Roy Tang said Tuesday that Hong Kong Customs had completed its investigation and would return the batch of military vehicles to Singapore.
"The military vehicles and the associated equipment will be returned to Singapore through the carrier, while the investigation might lead to criminal prosecution," Tang said.
Hua said the Taiwan issue concerns China's core interest and the one-China policy is the prerequisite and political foundation to set up and develop relations between China and other countries.
"China has always firmly opposed any official contact between Taiwan and countries that have forged diplomatic ties with China, including military contact," Hua said.
She said that China had lodged representations with Singapore over the issue and hoped the city-state could strictly abide by the one-China policy.
Tang said the vehicles were seized because of "a suspected breach of Hong Kong law."
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that the releasing of the vehicles and equipment was a "positive outcome."
