In China, like Singapore

By Minxin Pei

March 30, 2015 

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/in-china-like-singapore/

Throughout its history, China has seen itself as the centre of the world. The name of the country, literally translated, is “Central Kingdom”. So it may surprise many to learn that a tiny state-city, Singapore, has exerted outsized intellectual influence on Chinese leaders since the late 1970s.

By all accounts, the remarkable success achieved under the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew, should make most of his counterparts in developing countries envious. But for the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the so-called “Singapore model”, loosely defined as dynamic authoritarian capitalism, holds special allure. From Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping, all Chinese leaders thought that they could copy some aspects of Lee’s development and political strategies to make China prosperous and prolong the rule of the CPC.