MM Lee: China learns from Singapore

OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD

By Ng Tze Yong

April 11, 2009

HOW does a country, Lilliputian in size and stature, rub shoulders with the big boys - and survive and thrive? Yesterday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew spoke about the essence of Singapore's foreign policy from independence till now in a talk organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Academy. It was about pride of place despite geography, size, and having 'independence thrust upon Singapore'. And it is about planning and being prepared for opportunity and adversity. BEING PREPARED TO SURVIVE the upheavals of a globalised world, Singapore must walk a tightrope. 'A small country must seek a maximum number of friends, while maintaining the freedom to be itself as a sovereign and independent nation,' said MM Lee. But who befriends a small country that performs no vital or irreplaceable functions in the international system? 'Friendship, in international relations, is not a function of goodwill or personal affection,' said MM Lee. 'We must make ourselves relevant so that other countries have an interest in our continued survival and prosperity as a sovereign and independent nation.' To do this, Singapore must stay competitive by attracting foreign investments and produce goods and services useful to the world. At the same time, it must strengthen its national consciousness. It won't be easy, when globalisation is tearing apart at the very notion of nationhood. 'A country like America has over 200 years of history to bond its citizens,' said MM Lee. 'We have only 40 years.' The post-Cold War world remains in flux, and every country is in the midst of transiting to a different global order, said MM Lee. 'A mood for more regulations and control prevails in many economies. This could slide into protectionism,' said MM Lee. Amid the uncertainty, Singapore will have to swiftly adjust its policies in a pragmatic and clinical manner. 'We have to live with the world as it is, not as we wish it should be,' said MM Lee. 'We must remain nimble to seize opportunities that come with changing circumstances, or to get out of harm's way.' MANAGING PREJUDICE PREJUDICE, not necessarily our own, may strain Singapore's future relationships with its neighbours. While Singapore is a multi-racial meritocracy, our neighbours organise their societies on the supremacy of indigenous peoples, for example Malaysia's bumiputras and Indonesia's pribumis. 'Though our neighbours have accepted us as a sovereign and independent nation, they have a tendency to externalise towards us their internal anxieties and angst against their own minorities,' said MM Lee. 'This is unlikely to go away.' Time has healed some of the strained relations of the past but historical baggage is easier to discard. 'Political and social systems, we cannot change so easily,' said MM Lee. Still, Asean is more robust today than when it was formed in 1967. It has been 'an exception among Third World regional organisations' because its members focused on development instead of out-doing one another, said MM Lee. Asean countries must work together to thrive in the future. At the same time, Singapore must differentiate itself to compete and survive, all the while maintaining harmonious relationships with its neighbours. 'This is a perennial foreign policy challenge,' said MM Lee. TAKING PRIDE AN AWAKENING dragon, sceptical but curious of a little dot's success, came a-knocking - and left seduced. In the 1960s and 1970s, Singapore was criticised by China as a lackey of American imperialists. Closer to home, the China-backed Malayan Communist Party (MCP) refused to recognise Singapore's independence. But all this changed when former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in November 1978. 'He personally saw that China had fallen behind these supposedly backward cities,' said MM Lee. From then on, Mr Deng started keeping tabs on developments in Singapore. He liked what he saw. When former deputy prime minister Dr Goh Keng Swee retired in 1985, he was invited to be economic adviser to the state council on the development of China's coastal areas and tourism. A few years later, during a 1992 tour of southern China, Mr Deng held Singapore up as an example, saying: 'There is good social order in Singapore. They govern the place with discipline. We should draw from their experience, and do even better than them.' Later that year, vice-minister of propaganda Xu Weicheng led a delegation to Singapore. They stayed for 10 days. That marked the beginning. Since 1996, Singapore has trained more than 16,000 Chinese officials. 'China, a huge nation with an ancient history, was willing to learn from a tiny city-state,' said MM Lee.

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