Export the Model as Influence Multiplier

"Deng Xiaoping then sent tens of thousands of Chinese, officials and members of the Communist Party, to Singapore so they could make the most of Singapore’s achievements. China openly used the city-state as a cadre school to train numerous Chinese leaders, for example, by sending Jiang Zemin as early as 1980, who was the Vice President of the Commission for Foreign Investments and later the Mayor of Shanghai, to eventually become the head of state in 1993 and Deng Xiaoping’s successor. From 1985 to the 1990s, the Chinese government did not hesitate to recruit Dr. Goh Keng Swee, one of Lee Kuan Yew’s lieutenants and often considered the architect of Singapore’s economic development, as an economic advisor."

"Chinese path was found by Deng; it is none other than the one professed and implemented by Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore: an authoritarian and meritocratic republic, an interventionist and social state managed by an elite serving the general interest within the framework of a market economy."

"Lee Kuan Yew recalls the instructions given by Deng Xiaoping during this trip: “Open up, learn from the rest of the world and, most importantly, learn from Singapore, for their good governance and discipline.”"

"Deng Xiaoping did not want to follow this path, which he considered too dangerous for the country’s stability. This is why he decided to suppress the Tiananmen Square protests in June 1989. However, China had to find an effective alternative. Only one leader proposed another proven path. This uniqueness was clearly perceived at the time, for example by Samuel Huntington when he wrote in 1997: “Apart from the special case of oil-rich Gulf States, all the wealthiest countries, except for Singapore, are democratic.”"