How Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew treated China with respect: ‘he wasn't like the West'
In his newly released memoir Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel, Cheong reflects on Lee's deft handling of China relations, drawn from personal experience covering his landmark 1976 visit to Beijing and later working closely with him as editor-in-chief of Singapore newspaper The Straits Times from 1987 to 2006.
Ink and Influence outlines Cheong's four-decade-long career in journalism and his interactions with political leaders while at The Straits Times before he served as Singapore's non-resident ambassador to Chile. Cheong then offers his thoughts on the way forward for the Singaporean media outlet.
Speaking to This Week in Asia during the book's launch on Wednesday, Cheong said that although Singapore was more developed than China in those days, Lee held the Chinese in high regard.
'He wasn't like the West, for example, who would demonise. He could see where are the strengths of the Chinese, where are the weaknesses, and be honest. But more importantly, [there was] a lot of mutual respect,' Cheong said.
Singapore's veteran newspaper editor Cheong Yip Seng during the launch of his latest book 'Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel' at the Central Public Library on Wednesday. Photo: Nicole Cheah
Cheong, 82, recounted an anecdote published by the Chinese in 2018 when China honoured 10 foreigners with the China Reform Friendship medal to mark the 40th anniversary of the country's opening up. The write-up for Lee, who was one of 10, recalled a 1978 visit by Deng Xiaoping to Singapore when Lee asked to have a spittoon and ashtray placed in the Istana next to Deng, after Lee recalled Deng smoked and he had seen a spittoon in the Great Hall of the People on his previous visit to China.
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Leung was jailed for six years and nine months, while Sham was sentenced to four years and three months' imprisonment. Sham was released from prison on May 30, while Leung is still in jail. In May 2021, LSD member Figo Chan was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment for taking part in five marches and assemblies during the 2019 protests and unrest. In August 2021, Wong, then LSD chair, was jailed for 14 months over illegal assembly linked to his participation in a march during the 2019 protests and unrest. With Wong in jail, Chan Po-ying, a founding member of the party and Leung's wife, became the last chair of the LSD. Under her leadership, the LSD retained its standing as one of the last opposition parties. Every fortnight, the LSD had a street booth in Causeway Bay to distribute leaflets and deliver speeches about poverty and protesting against social issues such as imported labour and large-scale development projects. 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LSD members 'hoped to maintain a left-wing voice in Hong Kong and to speak up for the working class… We have faced many difficulties over the past four years,' he said in Cantonese. 'In the past, we produced a lot of creative props to express our opinions, held referendums and staged demonstrations. In the end, we could only give handouts and deliver speeches in the street, which were already as difficult as walking on a tightrope.' He added that the party did not even have a bank account over the past two years. In 2023, HSBC terminated three accounts of the LSD without giving any reasons. The party attributed the disbandment to 'tremendous political pressure,' saying they could not provide any further details. Chau said that in today's Hong Kong, while they were distributing flyers on the streets, people's expressions indicated that it was an impossible task. 'We hope that the next generations can remember how common and ordinary it once was to hand out [political] leaflets on the streets,' he said.
