Story highlights A date has not been set

The Prime Minister was invited in Dalian during an economic summit

Hong Kong (CNN) Singapore says that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has accepted an invitation to visit the city state, a sign that recent tensions between the two countries could be easing.

The invitation came during a meeting between Li and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tuesday on the sidelines of an economic forum in the Chinese city of Dalian, the release from the Singapore Prime Minister's office said.

A date has not been set.

Ties between the two had been strained, with Singapore's leader conspicuously absent from China's flagship summit on its Belt and Road Initiative in May and the impounding in Hong Kong of nine armored vehicles belonging to Singapore last year.

"Singapore has been drifting more towards the opposite side (the United States)," said Zhang Baohui, a professor of politics at Hong Kong's Lingnan University.

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