So predicts Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore.The Singapore Business Times reported on 30 December that it has just been over 30 years since China first adopted an open-door policy which puts it on its way to becoming the world's second largest economy soon. To Lee, becoming a world superpower will take more time.
Why? Making this point was Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who said that it would take more than another 30 years to “train and educate a whole generation” in a wide spectrum of specialties.
“Yes, China will have a big gross domestic product, but the GDP per capita is still about a third of that in America. China has got very poor provinces,' said Mr Lee at a dinner dialogue yesterday held in conjunction with Business China's second anniversary celebrations. “For the coastal areas, they will be as good if not better than Singapore. There will be big infrastructures and investments, good education. Some of the Chinese are already very confident and assertive.”
Business China, launched in November 2007 by Lee and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, is an initiative by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The organisation helps encourage businessmen to better understand the language, culture, and social and economic conditions of modern-day China.
Singapore's relationship with China was one that came about 'by accident', said Lee. “If Deng Xiaoping had not come here that year, the relationship would not have developed. He saw what we were doing in Singapore and he was taken up by our society — clean, safe, everyone owns their own homes,” he said. “He visited some of the flats, and saw how we made use of capitalism to build a fair society. That set into his mind that he could do the same (for China).”
The Chinese has once again proven,with will of steel,they can take all the odds to move forward. Their vision is laser-sharp!
Do our leaders in Malaysia have such awill? Sadly we can't even focus!
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