President Xi mourns passing of ‘an old friend of the Chinese people’
Print Edition
CHINA’S President Xi Jinping yesterday praised Lee Kuan Yew as an “old friend of the Chinese people.”
Xi said Lee, who has died at the age of 91 and was ethnically Chinese, was “widely respected by the international community as a strategist and a statesman” and expressed “sincere condolences” to his relatives.
Lee met China’s leaders many times and his model of governance was seen as an example to China as it embarked on reforms.
He was the “founder, pioneer and promoter of China-Singapore relations,” Xi said in a message sent to Singapore President Tony Tan, China’s foreign ministry said.
Lee and the old generations of Chinese leaders jointly set the direction of China-Singapore ties, said Xi, adding that Lee made great contributions to enhancing friendship of the two peoples and broadening bilateral cooperation.
The death of Lee is a loss to the people of Singapore, and to the international community, Xi added.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Lee was “a strategist boasting oriental values and international vision.” He described him as “a uniquely influential statesman in Asia” who made “historic contributions” to Singapore’s ties with Beijing.
Lee identified China as a driver of world economic growth early on, and advised leaders in Beijing and the West on relations.
He praised Chinese leaders on several occasions, including writing in a 2013 book that President Xi was “in the Nelson Mandela class of persons.”
Stressing that China attaches great importance to the development of friendly cooperative relations with Singapore, Xi said China is willing to work with Singapore to continue the traditional friendship between the two countries, consolidate good-neighborly ties and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also expressed their condolences.
Li said Lee’s contribution to China-Singapore relations and China’s reform and opening-up would go down in history.
As a universally recognized strategist and statesman, and Singapore’s founding father and father of development, as well as an important founder of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Lee made extraordinary contributions to peace and development in the region, the premier said.
In a separate message to Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli noted Lee’s outstanding contribution to promoting China-Singapore cooperation.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent a message to his Singaporean counterpart K. Shanmugam, expressing his grief. Lee had made great contributions to the healthy and rapid development of relations.
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