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When it comes to Lee Kuan Yew, the first thing that comes to mind is his identity as Singapore's "father of the nation".
As Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, with his outstanding leadership skills and pragmatic governance methods, built a nascent city-state into a prosperous, stable, and advanced modern country, and the leaders of both the United Kingdom and the United States spoke highly of him.
Whether in politics or business, Lee Kuan Yew has been unanimously praised by leaders, but whenever he talks about his Chinese identity, Lee Kuan Yew always says that although Singapore is a Chinese country, it does not belong to China.
The first Chinese prime minister
Lee Kuan Yew's ancestral home can be traced back to Guangdong, and his wife's ancestral home is Quanzhou, although he is of Chinese ancestry, but he was born in Singapore.
At that time, Singapore was still a British colony, under the British colonial rule, Singapore's economy was still booming, due to the large number of Chinese in Singapore, there was a scene of both Chinese and Western cultures in Singapore.
Living in such an upper-class family, Lee Kuan Yew was not only influenced by the traditional Chinese family model, but also familiar with and admired British civilization.
Educated in the British way of his father from an early age, Lee Kuan Yew was smart and smart, and his Xi were among the best, and when he grew up, Lee Kuan Yew successfully went on to further his studies at the world'Xi s top universities in Cambridge and Oxford.
Although Lee Kuan Yew has the purest Chinese ancestry, he is not good at speaking Chinese, but can speak fluent and pure British English.
The Great Depression destroyed the normal lives of many people, and Lee Kuan Yew was no exception, and the sudden blow left Lee Kuan Yew's family in the middle of the road, and the outbreak of World War II changed Lee Kuan Yew's life dramatically.
Whether it was the defeat of the British army by the Japanese army or the dictatorship of the Japanese army, Lee Kuan Yew had a new understanding of the world.
Lee Kuan Yew Xi studied law, and after graduation, he joined the organization of local Chinese intellectuals and actively participated in political activities, laying a solid foundation for his future career in Singaporean politics.
Due to his outstanding leadership skills and talents, Lee Kuan Yew's status quickly rose to become the leader of the Chinese in Malaya, and compared with the rest of Asia, Singapore's economy under Lee Kuan Yew's leadership was relatively backward and in urgent need of transformation and breakthrough, and Lee Kuan Yew officially led Singapore to start a successful transformation road.
Singapore's path to growth
Unlike the rest of Asia, Singapore's transition path has been relatively smooth under Lee Kuan Yew's leadership, with major transformations completed in a relatively stable environment.
And this has a lot to do with Lee Kuan Yew's integration of Chinese and Western wisdom.
First of all, as a brand-new country, Singapore itself has a relatively short history of establishment, without too many historical entanglements, because of the long-term existence between a large country and various ethnic groups, Singapore has long been familiar with the way of coexistence and coexistence between different countries and different ethnic groups.
In order for Singapore to build order from scratch, it is necessary to lay a good foundation and start with the economy, Lee Kuan Yew thought about it and formulated a series of reform plans and processes according to Singapore's current national situation.
Singapore has become independent from the British, and the existence of the British base originally provided a large number of employment opportunities for Singaporeans, but with the withdrawal of British capital, Singapore has no support.
At first, Lee Kuan Yew was confused, and he didn't know what kind of work to give to students who were out of school and were hopeful for the future.
How to do a good job can be taught, but how to bring together a group of people from different countries such as China and India to shape a multi-ethnic state, and teach them to find a job to support themselves when Singapore has lost its economic backbone and the trading port industry has failed.
At that time, Western countries were pessimistic about Singapore, which seemed to be divided after independence, believing that Singapore would not be able to go too far and would face decline sooner or later.
Lee Kuan Yew is increasingly aware that for Singapore to survive, it will have to make extraordinary efforts to create a new and different economic model, and that innovation may be the only way forward.
After research, Lee Kuan Yew found that Singapore's tourism industry is almost untapped.
The tourism industry chain needs to be developed manually, but it does not require much capital investment, so Lee Kuan Yew immediately established the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board, intending to develop the tourism industry and promote industrial production.
In order not to damage the natural environment, Lee Kuan Yew promoted a large-scale public housing construction program in the face of Singapore's limited land resources, providing affordable housing for ordinary citizens.
He also focuses on urban planning to make Singapore a liveable and well-greened city.
Since then, Singapore has attracted investors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places to rely on its development potential, and has successively opened factories in various industries such as toys, textiles, and clothing.
Since some countries around Singapore have squeezed out Singapore, it is better to set the trade target at European and American countries thousands of miles away, and form an economic community with them, if Singapore becomes the core area of developed countries, then Singapore can be regarded as a real development.
Lee Kuan Yew came to this conclusion after thinking about it, so he decided to make a further visit to the United States, where he planned to carry out cross-sea trade and long-distance sea and air transportation.
In addition to the economic foundation, Lee Kuan Yew believes that education is also an indispensable factor in a strong country.
He has improved the overall quality and skill level of the people by building an advanced education system, and Singapore's education policy focuses on cultivating innovative and practical abilities to keep its education system competitive internationally.
As Singapore is a multicultural society with people from different ethnicities and religions, Lee Kuan Yew believes that a one-size-fits-all policy would be unwise and that bringing together so many different cultures would require a common ground approach.
Lee Kuan Yew adopted a series of policies that encouraged the integration of different cultures, advocated "Asian values" and emphasized social order and stability, which helped to build a multicultural nation where ethnic groups lived in harmony.
After escaping British rule, Singapore appeared isolated internationally, and Lee Kuan Yew pursued a series of pragmatic and flexible foreign policies, maintaining neutrality and friendly relations with other countries, ensuring Singapore's international prestige and status.
After 31 years of hard work, under Lee Kuan Yew's leadership, Singapore has not only managed the complex domestic ethnic relations just right, but also navigated the international arena, eventually transforming from a small barren port city into a prosperous, stable and highly developed country.
This predominantly Chinese-American country is becoming more and more prosperous, and it is moving from being unfavored to a new era step by step.
All of this is thanks to Lee Kuan Yew's steadfast leadership and pragmatic governance methods, and his leadership style and governance philosophy have had a profound and positive impact on Singapore's development, and Lee Kuan Yew has become a brilliant light in the world political arena.
However, as a Chinese premier, Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew only began to formally establish diplomatic relations with China in 1990, and his Chinese identity often leads to discussions, saying that Lee Kuan Yew is a Chinese, but Lee Kuan Yew always denies such claims.
Diplomatic relations with China
In March 1975, Singapore's foreign minister visited China, and he explained to Premier Zhou that the reason why Singapore has been delaying the establishment of diplomatic relations with China is that the time and environment are not yet ripe, and the neighboring countries are particularly sensitive to Singapore, a country with a vast majority of ethnic Chinese, so although Singapore is very willing to establish diplomatic relations with China, it will take time.
Not to mention the fact that during the Cold War, Singapore was an ally of the United States, while China maintained close relations with the Soviet Union, which led Singapore to take a relatively conservative stance on establishing formal diplomatic relations with China.
In addition, the mainland has always adhered to the "one-China" principle and will never make concessions on the Taiwan Strait issue, and Singapore maintained some informal economic and cultural ties with Taiwan before establishing diplomatic relations with China, and it may take time to resolve the issue of relations with Taiwan to ensure that Singapore's establishment of diplomatic relations with China will not trigger a sensitive Taiwan issue.
In the early 1980s, China began to implement a policy of reform and opening up, and with the rise of China's economy, Singapore has a large number of Chinese and recognizes the strategic importance of establishing diplomatic relations with China, so it began to express its willingness to establish diplomatic relations with China.
Lee Kuan Yew has played a crucial role in the history of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China, and he is well aware of the complex and special position of the mainland in the international community, so his position has always been neutral.
Flexible and sensible diplomacy in some sensitive geopolitical areas has enabled Singapore to maintain independence and neutrality among different major powers.
In the early 80s of the 20th century, Singapore began to carry out economic reforms, and at the same time, China was also undergoing reform and opening up, Lee Kuan Yew saw this opportunity, and he encouraged Singaporean companies to invest in China and establish economic ties with China.
In the process of establishing diplomatic relations with China, the Taiwan issue has always been one of the sensitive points in diplomatic negotiations, and Lee Kuan Yew has always paid attention to avoiding direct confrontation with China on the Taiwan issue, which has created favorable conditions for the establishment of friendly diplomatic relations between the two countries and enabled the relations between the two countries to develop smoothly.
Lee Kuan Yew's first visit to China from May 10 to 23, 1976 was a huge step forward for both sides.
Lee Kuan Yew wanted to understand China through this visit, but also to avoid causing others that he had returned to his roots as a descendant of Yan and Huang.
Lee Kuan Yew's delegation included 17 people of different ethnicities, and they all spoke English when they traveled, so as not to give the impression that their relationship with the Chinese side was too private.
The reception staff on the Chinese side understood his intentions and cooperated with Lee Kuan Yew in the details, trying to avoid sensitive issues.
But during his visit to China, Lee Kuan Yew constantly stressed that he was a Singaporean, not a Chinese, and Lee Kuan Yew had his own considerations for such statements.
First of all, he believes that Singapore is a multicultural country with a unique identity and culture, not only Han Chinese, and that China's political system is not suitable for Singapore's national conditions.
As Singapore's founder and leader, Lee Kuan Yew emphasized that he was a Singaporean because of his loyalty and sense of identity.
Lee Kuan Yew once said that he is not Chinese, although there are more Chinese in Singapore, there are many people surnamed Yang and Lim, they seem to be Chinese, speaking Chinese, but the essence is completely different from Chinese.
"I want to think from Singapore's point of view, not from the Chinese point of view for Chinese interests. Lee Kuan Yew stressed that if he did not lead by example, Singapore would be divided and people would not survive in the end.
Even when Lee Kuan Yew's great-grandfather's house became a tourist attraction, some people hoped that Lee Kuan Yew would come to Guangdong to visit, but Lee Kuan Yew also refused, saying: "I am not Chinese, I will not visit there." ”
"The idea of returning to the motherland is unrealistic, although we are of Chinese blood, we cannot be indistinguishable from China. Lee Kuan Yew's ideas have also been respected by domestic leaders, and as Singapore's leader, Lee Kuan Yew's remarks are undoubtedly sober and wise.
Eternal Father of the Nation
On March 23, 2015, Lee Kuan Yew, the world-renowned and famous founding father of Singapore, ended his life in Singapore.
The news of the fall of a generation of political leaders in Southeast Asia has not only caused a sensation in Singapore, but also caused people around the world to mourn and remember.
"I don't want to be remembered as a politician. Lee Kuan Yew once said before his death that he was just a person who was persevering and that if he had not become a leader, he might have become a lawyer in the future.
A few years before his death, he became ill due to years of hard work, and after being hospitalized many times, he finally died in the company of medical staff and family.
After Lee Kuan Yew's death, the people of Singapore expressed their respect for him, and people from all walks of life and other national leaders also expressed their condolences to this outstanding statesman.
Lee Kuan Yew's influence on Singapore extends far beyond its borders, his passing marks the end of an era, and his funeral becomes a grand state funeral.
After his death, the Singapore government also continued to pursue his policies, and Lee Kuan Yew's legacy will continue to play an important role in Singapore's political, economic and social development.
"I don't think I can decide how people will remember me. I can only make sure that the systems are in place and that Singapore is growing steadily before I leave. ”
Lee Kuan Yew is a shining pearl in the political arena, and the deeds of his life will also deserve to be savored.
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