George Yeo

Opinion | How independent Singapore’s ‘Chinese-ness’ helped shape China’s great revival

Former Singapore foreign affairs minister George Yeo points to one particular element that has helped the city state build strong ties with China

But it has also caused complexities in foreign policy for a multicultural, sovereign nation that has to ensure it isn’t seen as a Chinese state in Asean

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Xi Jinping, right, with Singapore’s former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2007. Photo: Xinhua

George Yeo

Published: 4:00pm, 29 Oct 2020Updated: 4:35pm, 30 Oct 2020

The following is part one of an article first published in ThinkChina.sg by George Yeo, a former Singapore minister for foreign affairs, who is now senior adviser for Kuok Group and Kerry Logistics.

In 2018, China celebrated the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s new policy of reform and opening up. In those 40 years, China’s economy grew roughly 50 times in US dollars, 200 times in renminbi terms and about 90 times in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). Although the bulk of the effort was made by the Chinese people themselves, China was also helped by foreign assistance. Ten foreigners were awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal in 2018 for making a signal contribution to China’s astonishing transformation during this period.

One of the recipients was Singapore’s founding father and long-time prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. The process of selecting the 10 individuals for the medal must have been elaborate and controversial. A large pool of candidates would have been carefully considered. The selection having been made and announced to the world, the list is forever recorded in Chinese history.

This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China. Diplomatic relations were a necessary formality. Lee Kuan Yew had told Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo much earlier that when that day came, Singapore’s one-China policy required the state symbols of the Republic of China in Singapore to be taken down.

Significantly, Beijing noted without objection the use of training facilities in Taiwan by the Singapore Armed Forces. Indeed, Singapore’s unofficial relationship with Taiwan made possible the 1993 talks between Wang Daohan, of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and Koo Chen-fu, the head of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation, as well as those between Chinese President Xi Jinping and then Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in 2015, both of which were critical milestones in cross-strait relations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, left, at the Shangri-la Hotel in Singapore in 2015. The talks were brokered by Singapore. Photo: AP

SINGAPORE’S ‘CHINESE-NESS’