Singapore Model

How Singapore’s ‘chief architect’ helped shape reform in China

When Singapore’s former deputy prime minister Goh Keng Swee became an adviser to China in the 1980s, he brought more than policy know-how — he helped shape its reform era. Caixin Global journalists tell us how Goh’s quiet influence has left a lasting mark on both nations.

Caixin Global

Marking 35 years: Singapore’s grounded approach to China engagement

Singapore and China have committed to deepening their All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership during Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s visit to China. Although Beijing would like Singapore to sign on to its Community of Shared Future vision, it seems receptive to Singapore’s preference for pragmatic cooperation that produces tangible outcomes for the two countries. ISEAS researcher Lye Liang Fook explains.

Lye Liang Fook

Singapore’s veteran diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, a China optimist

In an interview by Lianhe Zaobao China news associate editor Chua Eng Wee, Singapore’s former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani shares his ideas about diplomacy and recounts his experience.

Chua Eng Wee

DPM Lawrence Wong: Singapore-China cooperation in a turbulent world

Ahead of the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) held in Tianjin, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong shares his thoughts on Singapore-China relations, highlighting the need to renew and expand economic links, reimagine industries and reinforce close ties between the two countries.

Lawrence Wong

CCP's official ideology may be hampering China's rise

Despite the CCP's efforts at arriving at new answers with socialism with Chinese characteristics, fundamental issues since Deng Xiaoping's time and new issues of this era have not been solved. Maybe it is time to recognise that ideology for party governance may not be the best fit for national governance, says EAI senior research fellow Lance Gore. Instead, what is more effective could be constant innovation and seeking common understanding with the people in adherence with common human values.

Lance Gore

Liu Thai Ker and Ke Huanzhang: Urban planners are servants of the city

How do urban planners go about their work and what contributions do they make to the building of liveable cities? Ke Huanzhang, former head of the Beijing Academy of Urban Planning and Design, is all for the seamless melding of a good ecological environment, living facilities, jobs and public services in a city. Liu Thai Ker, the former chief architect and CEO of Singapore's Housing Development Board, says a good planner needs to have the heart of a humanist, the brain of a scientist, and the eye of an artist. Tan Ying Zhen speaks to the veteran urban planners as part of a series of fireside chats put together to commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China.

Tan Ying Zhen

Chinese ambassador Hong Xiaoyong: New journey for China's development; new opportunities for China-Singapore cooperation

China's next phase of development will focus on achieving high-quality development and building a modern socialist country, says China's ambassador to Singapore, Hong Xiaoyong. Much attention will be paid to fostering innovation and green growth, and in pursuing a coordinated approach in building prosperity for the Chinese people. China will also continue to engage the world through its dual circulation strategy, turning the China market into a market accessible to all. In these efforts, there are many opportunities for Singapore and China to work together, building on their years of cooperation and synergies. Ambassador Hong wrote this article in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore.

Hong Xiaoyong

Beyond 30 years: History, places and images of Singapore-China relations

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China, Lianhe Zaobao and ThinkChina present "In the Founders' Footsteps", a pictorial retrospective of Deng Xiaoping's visit to Singapore in 1978 and of Lee Kuan Yew's 33 trips to China between 1976 and 2011. Lee Huay Leng, editor of the photobook, says she was surprised not only by how widely Lee had travelled during those years, but by Lee's steadfast belief in China's reform and opening up. His predictions of China's future and its relations to the world also struck her as visionary and prescient.

Lee Huay Leng

Will China also move into the 'post-LKY era'?

Among all of Singapore's leaders, one name is most closely associated with Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew, or simply LKY. Five years after his passing, has Singapore moved on from his style of strong leadership and what will other countries who are keen to follow the country's same developmental trajectory do in shaping their political systems?

Chen Nahui

Chinese netizens: Is Singapore 'zen' or has it given up?

Chinese social media has been rife with commentaries asking if Singapore is being too lax and defeatist in its approach to tackling the coronavirus outbreak. Han Yong Hong says beneath the veneer of calm lies characteristics that are peculiar to Singapore society.

Han Yong Hong

China's misperceptions of Singapore

Chen Nahui of the China University of Political Science and Law opines that China's misperceptions of Singapore range from those which are "not too far off" from reality or similar ones, to those that differ in characteristic elements, those that differ because of time-lag, and those that have sprouted from one's imagination. These explained for China's "unrealistic expectations" of Singapore.

Chen Nahui

The construction of the Singapore Model in Mainland China

What did the Middle Kingdom with 5000 years of civilisation learn from a country that is 13,344 times smaller and celebrated its 54th National Day in 2019?

Chen Nahui