Lee Kuan Yew at the APEC CEO Summit. The respected, the insightful, the quick-witted and the candid at CNA:
Mr Lee was addressing delegates at the APEC CEO Summit in Singapore on Friday evening. The dialogue lasted just under an hour and touched on wide-ranging issues.
Businessmen, academics and government officials gathered at the dialogue to tap the brains of a respected statesman, and Minister Mentor Lee did not disappoint with his candid answers.
Asked if the US was a declining power in Asia, Mr Lee noted the contest today is an economic one.
He said that if the US Congress does not realise it has to get out of its protectionist mode, then America will have huge problems ahead, especially with an emerging China which has strategically forged several Free Trade Agreements with Asian economies including India and Singapore.
“In the 21st century, the big countries will cancel each other out with their nuclear weapons, so they will not fight militarily. I see the Chinese understanding that, and seeing the strength in their high-quality manpower four times the size of America, they are hungry, they are willing to change their lives.
“If it goes on like that, after eight years – assuming that President Obama goes for a second term – anti-free trade, you are out of the economic race. And if you are out of the economic race, you will lose in the long run… If they don’t get the economy going, there will be a shift in Congress and maybe some in the Senate in the mid-term elections and then the penny will drop,” said Mr Lee. …
To illustrate China’s strengths, Mr Lee gave a personal insight into his meeting with former leader Deng Xiaoping.
He said: “When I first met Deng Xiaoping in 1978 in Singapore, he said, ‘I congratulate you’. I said, ‘What for?’ He said, ‘You have made this a garden city and everybody owns their own homes’. And I said, ‘Well, it’s a small place. Whatever we can do, you can do better. We are the descendants of the lenders, peasants of South China. You have the literati, you have the top brains, you have the poise, the artists’. He did not answer me, he just looked at me and went back to his food.”
It was a dialogue peppered with many personal insights from Minister Mentor Lee who delighted the audience with his quick wit and candour.
One case in point – when he was asked to comment on a magazine article which outlined five things the US can learn from China, Mr Lee said: “I haven’t read it yet. I saw it on my desk, you tell me what are the five things you have in mind and I will tell you whether I agree with them.”
Filed under: Conference, Quotes | 2 Comments
Tags: apec ceo summit, china, deng xiaoping, economy, lee kuan yew, united states
He may be championing “anti-free..anything” stand here, but back at home he is doing the reverse, he is stomping out “free” stand.
LKY is currently in the process of stiffling political opposing views to PAP policies and has, over the weekend of 14-15 Nov 09 suspend the website http://www.temasekreview.com (TR) from further broadcasting. It seems site has been active with blogger contributions to their status of it being an alternative political and cultural news site, and has recently posted some very interesting comments (drawn from reports published in The Straits Times over the past years which contained incontrovertible evidences showing LKY to be a great liar and not that white as he portrays himself to be).
Netizens in Singapore now do not have any access to this website, which is a real pity. The TR admin should have used WordPress as their platform. That way, I think it would be rather difficult for the PAP machinery to stiffle dissenting views given through TR.
Leewatch, tell LKY not to waste his time on supporting free trade and all that jazz. He’s got to start by giving us free access to news and alternative news from whatever sources are available toSingaporeans.
Why is he, over the weekend of 14 – 15 Nov 09, blocking internet access to http://www.temasekreview.com ? Singtel (Singnet) has blocked all access to this alternative news site for all its broadband scubscribers. We don’t even have the freedom to read our news or make contributions thereof so what is the “free this ” and “free that” LKY is loudmouthing to the world ? He is a damn lousy hypocrite. One would think being a few days or months to nearing the gate to meet his maker he should be more accomodating and forgiving. But no, not for him. He is behaving like an animal, devoid of sense of morality.