By Peh Shing Huei, China Bureau Chief & Lin Zhaowei

ZHEJIANG University, famed for its engineering prowess and research strength, will be the Chinese partner of Singapore's fourth university.

The collaboration with Zheda, as the university is popularly known in China, completes the three-way partnership of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SU), linking it with premier institutions in both the East and the West.

SU, which had earlier announced its partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, inked the agreement with Zheda yesterday.

It was one of four deals signed at the St Regis hotel between Singapore and China, all witnessed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The leaders, who had a meeting before the signings, also saw the signing of deals on the setting up of a China Cultural Centre, a civil servants exchange programme and the sending of two pandas to Singapore in 2011.

Mr Hu, who is here on a three-day state visit, urged Singapore and China to expand on their cultural exchanges during his meeting with Mr Lee, building on the momentous panda transfer and the universities' tie-up.

Like the pandas, the campus connection will kick in in 2011, when SU opens its doors to students.

While details are still being worked out, the link-up between SU and Zheda is expected to be far more concrete and stronger than existing collaborations between Singapore universities and overseas institutions.

'Through collaborating with MIT and Zhejiang University, we hope to create an engine of knowledge that has trans-continental reach, and that is able to draw together and create synergies from different cultures of education and research,' said Education Minister Ng Eng Hen, in a statement on the Zheda partnership.

Zheda is one of the most prestigious universities in China, regularly ranked third nationally, after Beijing University and Qinghua University.

Established in 1897 during the Qing Dynasty, the Hangzhou-based school is a comprehensive university with traditional strengths in engineering, science and medicine.

It counts physics Nobel laureate T.D. Lee, Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren and Chinese Communist Party co-founder Chen Duxiu among its alumni. In recent years, its most well-known graduate was Mr Zhang Jun, the main designer of the Beijing Olympics torch.

The university partnership is an example of the excellent state of bilateral relations between Singapore and China, a closeness reaffirmed by Mr Lee and Mr Hu during their meeting yesterday.

'Both leaders agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation on all fronts, such as environmental protection, water management and human resource development,' said the Singapore Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Besides the education links, a China Cultural Centre will also be set up here. The centre, which is the eighth worldwide and the first in South-east Asia, will showcase Chinese arts and offer classes in Mandarin, calligraphy and wushu.

Mr Hu also met Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday, rounding up his meetings with Singapore leaders. He had talks with President S R Nathan and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Wednesday night.

According to the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, MM Lee told Mr Hu that China's stability and development were of great significance to the region.

Singapore is pleased to see China playing an important role in regional and international affairs and welcomes greater economic strides on its part, the Xinhua report added.

shpeh@sph.com.sg

zhaowei@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times.