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Text: Mo Hanxue
Edited by Mo Hanxue
[Preface]
Speaking of our neighbors, we have to talk about the Republic of Singapore, after it was reported that the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore issued an article on April 15.
The main content of the article is: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will officially step down as Singapore's prime minister on May 15 this year and hand over the baton to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong.
This Huang Xuncai's identity is a little unusual, it is said that he is of Chinese descent and can speak fluently in his speech Chinese......
Could it be that Hwang Xuncai is Chinese? Why did Lee Hsien Loong choose to leave office?
[Lee Hsien Loong will "hand over" to Lawrence Wong on May 15]
I believe that everyone has seen the information that Singapore's prime minister will resign on May 15, and there may be many people who do not believe this news.
But Singapore's current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, confirmed the news in a social media post after the news came out, saying: "In November last year, I announced my willingness to resign as prime minister this year, and the leadership succession is an important moment for the country." ”
"Lawrence Wong's performance in the past few years is well known, especially in Singapore's anti-epidemic performance, which has won the trust of the public, and I believe that he will be able to build a better future for Singapore. ”
From Lee Hsien Loong's speech, we can be sure that Singapore's prime minister is about to change, and Lee Hsien Loong will hand over the baton to Lawrence Wong on May 15.
Lawrence Wong was born in Singapore in 1972, but their ancestral home is on Hainan Island, China, but his father, but because of the needs of life, his grandfather who came to Malaysia to help as a chef.
Although they are Chinese, Huang Xuncai did not know Chinese since he was a child, and he did not learn Chinese until he entered the school, and the first financial reporter asked questions in Chinese in an interview in December 2021, when Huang Xuncai did not have any barriers in understanding, but still chose to answer in the most fluent English.
After completing his basic education in Singapore, Huang Xuncai won a certain scholarship to study in the United States, and in 1997, he obtained a master's degree in economics from a branch school in the United States at that time, and made many good friends.
After returning to China, he joined the Ministry of Trade and Industry as a civil servant, and since then he has stayed in the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health and other ministries, and the intersection of Lawrence Wong and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was in 2005.
At that time, by chance, Lawrence Wong was favored by Lee Hsien Loong and appointed as the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary, a position Wong held for three years.
In 2011, Lee Hsien Loong encouraged Huang Xuncai to go to the next level, for example, when he entered the political arena, the relationship between the two seemed to be very good at that time, and many people said that the tacit understanding between the two people was very high.
Lee Hsien Loong was 55 years old in 2007, when he said that Singapore should not have a prime minister over 70 years old, and according to Lee Hsien Loong's words, some people in the outside world have calculated that Lee Hsien Loong is likely to retire before 2022.
But in 2022, a sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic also disrupted Lee Hsien Loong's plans, and he said at the time that he would choose to retire after surviving the pandemic crisis in Singapore.
Now that the pandemic has receded, Lee Hsien Loong, now 72 years old, entered politics in the 80s.
He has held many positions including Second Minister of Defence, Minister of Trade and Industry, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and became Prime Minister of Singapore in August 2004.
Lawrence Wong, who is now 51 years old and will take over as Singapore's prime minister on May 15, has made a lot of contributions with Lee Hsien Loong's encouragement and support.
In 2022, Lawrence Wong was elected as the new leader of the fourth generation of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) leadership team, and in November 2023, he was confirmed as the next Prime Minister of Singapore.
How Singapore Maintains the Balance between China and the United States
Speaking of Singapore, we are not very impressed, but this time Singapore will elect a prime minister is us Chinese, coupled with the United States has been suppressing the mainland, many people have raised a question - how should Singapore maintain the balance between China and the United States?
Many people are wondering whether Singapore will choose to take sides between the two countries like the Philippines, so let's take a closer look at how Singapore maintains the balance between China and the United States.
At the 11th World Peace Forum, Singapore's Ambassador to China delivered a speech, during which he also mentioned security issues, Singapore's position and some views on China-US relations.
The ambassador to China made it clear that there are many problems facing the world at present, many countries are paying more and more attention to security issues, and the relationship between China and the United States is also very important for the Asia-Pacific region.
However, Singapore will not side with either China or the United States, but will prefer to be a reliable partner for all countries in the world, including China and the United States.
Singapore has always been an important ally of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region, and the United States has a relatively large influence on Singapore, and Singapore's naval base has always been in the hands of the United States Navy, so in the eyes of the outside world, Singapore is a very important chess piece of the United States.
However, Singapore is still very sensible compared to the Philippines, and they have not chosen which country to side with on the issue of Sino-US relations.
On the contrary, they will speak for China in many things, and the relationship between China and Singapore in the past two years has been relatively stable on the whole, and the cooperation between the two countries in trade and scientific research has been increasing.
In the past few years, there have been some unpleasant things in the mainland and Singapore, but fortunately, there has been effective communication between the two countries in the past two years, and these unpleasant things have been put behind them.
Singapore's former and current officials often say that Singapore has a very good relationship with China, as Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during his visit to China earlier this year.
However, it is a bit hasty to think that Singapore has chosen China in Sino-US relations based on this sentence alone, and from what Singapore's ambassador to China said, we have already made it clear that they will not take sides with any country, and it is also to avoid some disasters for their own country.
However, this has no impact on us, we will not force these countries to take sides like the United States, and we hope that all countries can be independent and equal and mutually beneficial.
【Wong Xuncai's relationship with our China】
Throughout the article, we are introducing that Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has issued a statement that the next Prime Minister of Singapore will be Lawrence Wong, and we have also made a brief introduction to the person of Lawrence Wong.
I believe that those who read carefully already know that Huang Xuncai's ancestral home is in Hainan, China, that is to say, he is also our compatriot and has our Chinese ancestry, so let's take a closer look at Huang Xuncai's relationship with our China.
Huang Xuncai is a very ordinary post-70s generation, although his ancestral home is Hainan, China, but he was born in Singapore in 1972.
At that time, his family was a very ordinary family, his parents lived in Hainan, China, and later his father moved to Malaysia to follow his grandfather to work as a chef.
His mother is a primary school teacher, and the educational atmosphere of the whole family is relatively good, but it is also relatively poor in terms of life.
Compared with those political colleagues who came from the elite, Huang Xuncai's education when he was a child can really be called "the frog at the bottom of the well," and the educational conditions at that time were relatively average.
In addition, the situation of Huang Xuncai's family is also average, even the house he lives in is a public house, and he can only receive education in some ordinary schools in the vicinity at that time, and he did not go to an aristocratic school like other sons.
Although Huang Xuncai does not have a prominent family background, he has never complained to his parents, nor has he ever complained about how unfair life is to him.
Instead, he went against the tide in this difficult environment, and finally with his own efforts, he got a scholarship and was also qualified to study in the United States.
After entering college, Huang Xuncai also worked very hard, at that time he was very fond of music, and would sing on the street with his roommates in his spare time, and sometimes if the business was good, he could earn $30 at a time.
Later, when he returned from his studies, he met his nobleman, Lee Hsien Loong, and with Lee Hsien Loong's encouragement and help, he stepped into the political arena step by step, and only then did he achieve his current achievements.
Although Lawrence Wong was born in Singapore and only learned Chinese after he arrived at school, he is also very fluent in Chinese, and he can understand Chinese when others interview him.
【Conclusion】
Throughout this article, we mainly introduced Singapore's next Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, and also learned about Singapore's attitude towards China-US relations to a certain extent, and how to balance China and the United States.
I have to say that Lawrence Wong is indeed a very good person, let us all hope that under the leadership of Lawrence Wong, the people of China and Singapore will be able to continue to live happily.
Resources
1. New Hunan - "Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his "successor" Lawrence Wong have these ties with China
2. Interface News - "Lee Hsien Loong will hand over power, who will be the next leader of Singapore?"
3. Sina News - "Coming to take over Lee Hsien Loong, what changes will Lawrence Wong bring to Singapore?"