The passing of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew at the ripe old age of 91 closes the career of one of East Asia's greatest political figures in the post-World War II era.

It is worth remembering that Singapore's direct involvement with China began relatively recently. Although Lee was one of the first to grasp the importance of the direction in which Deng Xiaoping was leading China, suspicions of China in the region took a while to dispel; and it was not until 1991 that the two countries even established diplomatic relations.

In a way, Lee's political development paralleled that of modern China. As a young man studying in Britain, he was a socialist and worked at one time for the British Labour Party. And while building Singapore into a great citadel of capitalism, he did not follow the American model of unfettered free markets and a "hands-off" approach to social issues. His view was that Singapore could only develop under tight control from the top, and that the government must take direct responsibility for preventing the emergence of destructive social and economic phenomena, knowing how these could quickly bring about instability. His priorities were therefore ensuring that affordable housing was available for all, building a first-class education system, and promoting scientific and technological development. In this way the island of Singapore, though almost devoid of natural resources, could not only provide its citizens with economic security but assume an economic leadership role in the region.

The parallels with China are becoming apparent. It is probably no coincidence that Singapore's diplomatic rapprochement with China came at the time when Jiang Zemin had taken over the leadership and established a state-led economic paradigm, focused on Shanghai and its hinterland, to provide an alternative to the free-market 'Guangdong model' associated with Deng Xiaoping. The first joint projects, in the form of technological development zones financed by Singapore, were established in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Twenty years later, China appears to be moving even more noticeably in the direction pioneered by Lee's Singapore. President Xi Jinping has recognised that rapid economic development must be integrated within a solidly-based legal system and accompanied by a firm crackdown on corruption. Both these factors were essential elements of the way in which Lee Kuan Yew ran Singapore.

There are obvious differences between a vast country with 1.4 billion inhabitants and a city state of 5.5 million, so the similarities should not be exaggerated. There is another factor which differentiates China from Singapore: the former, for all its size, is more or less ethnically homogeneous, whereas Singapore, though with a Chinese majority, is home to considerable ethnic groups of largely Malay and Indian origin. While this has made for a good cultural synergy and facilitated exchanges throughout the region, it can also make for social tensions. Keeping these to a minimum was another of Lee's considerable achievements: he has managed to create a real Singaporean identity while acknowledging the different cultures which comprise that identity. Chinese Singaporeans are very conscious of their ancient Chinese heritage, and the educational principles in their schools owe a great deal to Confucius and the other classics. Meanwhile Singapore has been remarkably successful in avoiding ethnic or religious unrest, at a time when other countries - particularly those with substantial Muslim populations - have been hit by a wave of destructive extremist activity.

Lee Kuan Yew was always conscious of the uniqueness and special characteristics of Singapore. He guided the city-state to independence from Malaysia in 1965, and has firmly maintained its proud independence ever since, as a largely Chinese entity working closely with China but as a partner, not a component part. There are few statesmen who have so comprehensively impressed their personal stamp on a country. The building of a strong partnership with China was not the least of his achievements: as the Chinese leadership works at building a strong state governed by disciplined officials under the rule of law, Singapore has become in many ways its obvious cooperative partner. Even twenty years ago it was clear to foreign observers of China that, though Chinese leaders were not always prepared to listen sympathetically to representative of other countries, they were always prepared to listen to Lee Kuan Yew, even when he was being critical.

The warmth of President Xi Jinping's words on Lee's death was unsurprising: Lee was "an old friend of the Chinese people" and "widely respected by the international community as a strategist and a statesman." The terms Xi used are significant: as well as building a new nation, Lee provided a major contribution to the strategy followed by East Asia in the region's current phase of economic regeneration and development, in which China of course will continue to play the leading role.

The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.shenbo75.com/opinion/timcollard.htm

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