Visiting New Zealand, humble and courteous, Lee Kuan Yew was convinced.
In 1978, when the world's eyes were focused on East Asia, China's second-generation leadership made a major choice - reform and opening up, and began to open its doors to the world, integrate into the world, and participate in the world**.
The decision was widely controversial at the time, with conservatives at home opposing it, and internationally China in an awkward position. In the socialist camp of the Eastern world, China was seen as a reversal to the West, and thus a rift was created.
Even a once-friendly country like Albania has openly accused China on international occasions and severed diplomatic relations with China. And in the capitalist world, whether it is Europe and the United States, Southeast Asia, and South America, they are cautious about China's actions, after all, China was their "enemy".
During the Cold War, Southeast Asia was the focus of contention between the United States and the Soviet Union, and China was seen as an active exporter of communist revolutions in the region, leading to hostility towards China in Southeast Asian countries.
However, after the reform and opening up, he visited New Zealand and had a sincere dialogue with Lee Kuan Yew, which untied the knot between the two sides and made Southeast Asian countries gradually accept China. During his visit to Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew spoke highly of *** and said that if *** was born in Singapore, both of them and Singapore would be successful, and he was born in China, which may be useless.
So, why visit Singapore in the 70s? What did he talk about with Lee Kuan Yew? What is the significance of this visit for China?
In the long history of the world, we have always considered temperate countries to be the symbol of high civilization, while the tropics have always seemed to be overshadowed by the backwardness of civilization. However, a fact of the 20th century shattered this preconceived notion: a tropical country, Singapore, became a developed country.
Since its founding in the 60s, Singapore has accumulated a lot of wealth and achieved a leap forward in civilization with the first round of industrial transfer from the West and the support of the United States during the Vietnam War.
In the late 70s, Singapore was one of Asia's leading GDP growth rates and a global leader in industrial technology. By the time China launched its reform and opening up in 1978, Singapore had become a modern metropolis with many high-rise buildings, and the electronics industry was even as advanced as Japan.
However, if you can imagine, at the beginning of Singapore's independence, it was a densely populated, desperately poor, and barren place, with hundreds of thousands of people living on fishing and agriculture, and hundreds of thousands of people without access to electricity, and very low levels of security, health care and education.
However, Singapore has made a qualitative leap forward in just a decade, and its achievements have caught the eye of the entire East Asian region, and China in particular.
In 1976, China invited Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew to visit China, and the elderly *** insisted on meeting him on the sickbed. This is one of the few foreign leaders in ***'s life.
Lee Kuan Yew then traveled to China and gained a deep understanding of China's national conditions, saying: "The Chinese people are the most united and hardworking group, and as long as they are given the opportunity, they will definitely change the world." ”
Before leaving, Lee Kuan Yew extended an invitation to the Chinese leader: "You must come to Singapore in the future."
In 1978, when the spring breeze of reform and opening up was blowing on the land of China, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew extended an invitation to Chinese leaders. In November of that year, after leading a delegation to visit Thailand and Malaysia, he arrived in Singapore for a two-day visit.
**The mission had two objectives: first, to examine Singapore's development model from an economic perspective, and to study how Lee Kuan Yew created an economic miracle on a limited land; The second is to have in-depth exchanges with Lee Kuan Yew from a diplomatic point of view, after all, China had tense relations with Southeast Asian countries in the early days of the Cold War, and hoped to open up a new situation for China in Southeast Asia through Singapore.
Dialogue with China for a win-win future". In 1978, the handshake with Lee Kuan Yew became a hot topic around the world, and this historic visit not only changed the course of China's history, but also opened the door to diplomatic relations between China and New Zealand.
**During the visit to Singapore, it was widely seen by the international community as an attempt at political exchange. However, China and Singapore are the only two Chinese-owned countries in the world, and there has been speculation that China is trying to establish a "Chinese alliance" through Singapore.
But in fact, this visit is more to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the two sides, jointly promote their respective national development, and achieve the goal of a win-win future.
However, Westerners do not fully understand the position of China. First of all, Singapore was one of the more distant countries in Southeast Asia at the time, and it was difficult for the two countries to reach a political agreement.
Secondly, the visit of ** is more focused on economic purposes, and secondarily on political purposes, and political purposes are also "de-ideological". At that time, Singapore and China did not have formal diplomatic relations.
Comrade Xiaoping's plan to visit this country, which does not have diplomatic relations with China, has aroused some opposition in the country. But Comrade Xiaoping said: "Although there are some difficulties in going to Singapore, I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and I must go."
After the end of the turbulent period, China needs to conduct diplomacy with a new attitude, and I am willing to be the vanguard. ”
**Visiting Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew accompanied him to visit the cityscape, and the scene of high-rise buildings shocked ***. Subsequently, Lee Kuan Yew took *** to the Xinxing Industrial Park in the northeast of Singapore and visited the local electronics factory.
At that time, Singapore was already an industrial hub comparable to Japan, producing electronics that were exported all over the world. ** To Lee Kuan Yew: "Singapore's success is truly a miracle, it has not been colonized by foreign countries, it has not been a vassal state of anyone, and it has not been specially supported by major powers.
Singaporeans rely on themselves to develop the country, which is very rare globally. Singapore's experience is more worthy of China's learning than Japan's. ”
That evening, Lee Kuan Yew and Comrade Xiaoping had an in-depth conversation, and the two had a long discussion about the current situation and future development of Singapore, until they almost missed the dinner.
Comrade Xiaoping and Singapore's cabinet discussed issues such as Singapore's industrialization, low-rent housing, and a high degree of legal system, which made China feel very fresh and inspired.
In addition, Lee Kuan Yew also raised a sensitive political issue to Comrade Xiaoping -- the communist movement in Southeast Asia.
At the beginning of the Cold War, the communist movement flourished in Southeast Asia. However, after the Vietnam War, a large number of Communist Party activities emerged in many Southeast Asian countries, including Burma, Laos, Malay and Indonesia, and the core force of them was the overseas Chinese.
At that time, the socialist countries represented by China and the Soviet Union also supported the Chinese communist movement in Southeast Asia, which brought a lot of turmoil and instability to Southeast Asian countries.
As a result, the local people began to distance themselves from China and discriminated against people of Chinese descent. Faced with this situation, Comrade ** listened to Lee Kuan Yew's opinion. Although he did not express any dissatisfaction with the behavior of the local **, he just asked Lee Kuan Yew lightly: "What do you need us to do?" ”
This sentence surprised Lee Kuan Yew very much. As the leader of a socialist country, Comrade ** did not make any excuses for these actions, but was only concerned about how he could help solve the problem.
Lee Kuan Yew advised: "Don't export the revolution to Southeast Asia, don't support the guerrillas, and don't carry out ideological propaganda in the region. * After listening, he said, "Totally agree."
One of the aims of my trip is to solve this problem, and China** is open to this and willing to discuss and correct any mistakes. Lee Kuan Yew was very touched by his respectful and pragmatic attitude, after all, as a small country, it is difficult for Singapore to sit on an equal footing with China, the United States, India, the Soviet Union and other large countries, and even in front of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other neighboring countries.
However, ** respected him so much and accepted his advice, which made Lee Kuan Yew deeply grateful.
**After visiting Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew was impressed by his mind and pattern. He said that if *** was born in Singapore, he would definitely lead Singapore to prosperity; And if he had been born in China, he might not have been where he is now.
At the end of his visit in mid-November, China invited Lee Kuan Yew to come to China again, and he gladly accepted. The visit made China determined to open its borders.
Singapore, a small island nation located in the tropics, has rapidly emerged as an industrial powerhouse with its unique geographical location and excellent development strategy. However, this is not because Singapore has abundant resources, abundant capital, advanced technology or a deep industrial base, but because Singapore has wisely chosen to bring in foreign investment.
In China, in the early days of reform and opening up, many people were resistant to the term "foreign investment" because they were once a witness to China's humiliating history in modern times.
However, for China's economic development, domestic strength alone is far from enough. We need capital, technology, equipment, talent, sales channels, and other elements, and most of these are in the hands of foreigners.
Therefore, China must bring in foreign investment, but this also needs to be supported and agreed by the best people.
** After returning from a visit to many countries in 1978, Comrade ** immediately published an article entitled "Emancipating the Mind, Seeking Truth from Facts, and Looking Forward in Unity", advocating breaking with traditional concepts, accepting the development of private ownership, and establishing a new economic model of "public and private".
He emphasized Singapore's experience in introducing foreign capital, and believed that foreign capital not only brought advanced technology and equipment, improved production efficiency, but also created profits and increased financial revenue.
In addition, foreign investment can also lead to an increase in workers' incomes, stimulate consumption, and promote the development of the entire economy. These viewpoints of Comrade ** are of great significance for promoting China's reform and opening up and realizing socialist modernization.
At the end of the 70s, China signed an agreement with Singapore, and Singapore's capital was the first to enter China, followed by Japan and other Western countries. Subsequently, China set up a number of "special economic zones" in the southeast region to implement preferential economic policies to attract foreign investment.
At the same time, China began to send ** to study in Singapore, and Singapore ** also set up training courses at Nanyang University to teach China**. Singapore**, which has left a deep impression on China's reform and opening up, has played an important role.
During his trip to China in 1988, Lee Kuan Yew praised the rapid development of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai along the coast of Guangdong. He is convinced that China may overtake Singapore in the future.
In the early 90s, Comrade Xiaoping toured the south and saw the high-rise buildings in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and other places, and couldn't help but sigh: "Very good, these cities are already a bit like Singapore." ”