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history they had accepted that they had to learn from the outside world. They had paid the price of introversion and were keen to travel beyond their frontiers. The best favour one could do for a party boss was to underwrite his childrens' education. If the key elite became more cosmopolitan then a different China would exist.
4.
Mr Goodlad wondered whether China looked to Singapore as a role model. LKY said that the Chinese came to Singapore in large numbers. They were not interested in the whole system as such but wanted to graft parts of it on to the Chinese system. They were alarmed at the growth of crime, kidnapping, drugs etc in South China. Hong Kong's buccaneering spirit was also very different from Singapore. In Singapore, the Chinese found orderliness and 90% home-ownership, within a free market. There was no organised crime, prostitution, gambling, drugs etc. But they would not be able to transplant this system since their public servants were already corrupt. They were studying Singapore's anti-corruption laws and measures but were obviously unclear how to start the process. Their hope was "the long-term inducting of the best". We should make them understand the world. Mr Goodlad said that Chinese aims had been clear from the visits by Zhu Rongji and the Mayor of Shanghai to the UK recently.
5.
LKY said that the Chinese desire to absorb knowledge was endless. They made videos of all the Singaporean hotels and studied them carefully. There were also a variety of courses (eg business administration in Mandarin), sponsored by Singaporean firms or by local government. He did not see the Chinese authorities being able to prevent change. They had abandoned the old patterns and only knew that they must hold fast to the centre: but even this must change. The threat of unemployment was no longer relevant as a hold over the populace. But he did not understand US impatience over China: the country could not change overnight. The Chinese were only hurt when someone despised them, not when a stick was brandished. Congress could frighten but not hurt them.
6.
There then followed a discussion on Hong Kong (reported separately in Singapore telno 83). In response to a claim by LKY that Hong Kong people would not, in the longer term, applaud opposition forces, Mr Goodlad queried whether this was also the case in Singapore. LKY said that it was. That was why he had won many elections so dominantly. If he was to lose, he would lose totally. While he produced results and kept on the level there was no real opposition.
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