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poorly, if at all, but, with strong official encouragement, are becoming more literate in Mandarin (known as Huayu in Singapore).
15. The emphasis on English-language education reflects recognition by both government and public of the realities of international trade and politics, as well as exposure to Western influence. Competence in English is seen to be the key to a worthwhile job and a successful career. The emphasis on English language is welcome to the Singapore Government in pursuit of its aim of fostering Singaporean consciousness independent of older cultural claims. Nonetheless, emotional ties with China continue, and, with the government granting permission for such visits more readily, tourist travel as well as trade missions to China have been increasing.
Singapore/China Contacts
16.
a
The Chinese leadership made brief contact with Singapore in 1955 when the then Chinese Premier and Foreign Minister, Zhou Enlai, because of a technical fault affecting his aircraft, made an unplan- ned stopover in Singapore
in Singapore in April of that year en route to the Bandung Conference.
First official contact between the two countries came in March 1975 when the Foreign Minister of Singapore, Mr Rajaratnam, visited China. A number of unofficial delegations, mainly drawn from professional and trade circles, had visited China before then. Even in the 1950s and 1960s, trade between China and Singapore was an important factor.
Mr Rajaratnam's visit was followed by Mr Lee's in May 1976. Lee was among the last foreign visitors received by Mao before the latter's death in September 1976. During his visit, the first of three he has now made, Mr Lee made clear that he saw Singapore's future as more closely allied with its neighbours in South-East Asia and in particular the ASEAN countries than, by implication, with China.
Both he and Mr Rajaratnam stressed the racial diversity of Singapore. Develop- ment of trade was discussed. The Chinese leadership gave Mr Lee to understand that while the Chinese Communist Party would continue to support communist parties abroad, Singapore was free to deal with its own communists as it saw fit.
17.
As a follow-up to Mr Lee's visit, an official Chinese trade delegation visited Singapore in September 1977. In November 1978, Deng Xiaoping, then a Vice-Premier, paid the first visit to Singapore by a Chinese minister since Zhou Enlai's stopover in 1955. During Deng's visit, Mr Lee Kuan Yew again explained Singapore's objectives which were to remain a separate South-East Asian nation- state,
build а multi-racial society
society and create a Singaporean identity. Singaporeans did not regard themselves as overseas Chinese, he said. Mr Lee's outline of Singapore's interests was evidently intended to reassure his neighbours.
to
18. The years since 1978 have seen a sustained exchange of visits between China and Singapore, with increasing emphasis on trade and economic links. A trade agreement signed by the Singapore Minister of Finance during his visit to Peking in December 1979 led to the
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/eventual
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