Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SINGAPORE1016
2008-09-18 07:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Singapore
Cable title:  

SECRETARY OF LABOR CHAO MEETS SINGAPORE LEE KUAN

Tags:  ELAB PREL PGOV OVIP SN 
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VZCZCXRO5525
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHGP #1016/01 2620734
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 180734Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5785
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2859
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0368
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0327
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI 0018
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0210
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SINGAPORE 001016 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS
DEPT PASS DOL - FOR IAB AND OSEC
DEPT ALSO PASS USTR FOR KARESH, ROSENBERG STRATFORD AND LEE
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN AND RAND
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN AND DAS KASOFF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2018
TAGS: ELAB PREL PGOV OVIP SN
SUBJECT: SECRETARY OF LABOR CHAO MEETS SINGAPORE LEE KUAN
YEW, SINGAPORE MINISTER MENTOR, AUGUST 29, 2008

Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA L. HERBOLD FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (
D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SINGAPORE 001016

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS
DEPT PASS DOL - FOR IAB AND OSEC
DEPT ALSO PASS USTR FOR KARESH, ROSENBERG STRATFORD AND LEE
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN AND RAND
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN AND DAS KASOFF

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2018
TAGS: ELAB PREL PGOV OVIP SN
SUBJECT: SECRETARY OF LABOR CHAO MEETS SINGAPORE LEE KUAN
YEW, SINGAPORE MINISTER MENTOR, AUGUST 29, 2008

Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA L. HERBOLD FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (
D).


1. (U) August 29, 2008; 5:00 PM; the Istana (the Palace)


2. (U) Participants:

United States:
Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold
Dr. James Chao
Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor Anna Hui
E/P Chief Ike Reed (notetaker)

GOS:
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew
Principal Private Secretary Chee Hong Tat
MFA Americas Assistant Director Jasmine Tan (notetaker)


3. (C) Summary: Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Singapore
Minister Mentor (and founding father) Lee Kuan Yew discussed
in an August 29 meeting China's development and the future of
its relations with the outside world. MM Lee applauded
China's success in hosting the Olympics, but said that if
China "believes they've arrived, it's a big mistake," as it
would take several more decades to address internal problems
and develop a fully competitive workforce. MM Lee said China
has no interest in exporting its political values and warned
that rising trade protectionism in the West could slow, but
not stop, China integration with the rest of the world. MM
Lee also discussed with the Secretary and Dr. Chao their
family history and the challenge of mastering the Chinese
language in an overseas environment. End Summary.

China's Competitiveness
--------------


4. (C) Secretary Chao discussed with MM Lee her impressions
from her August visit to China, where she represented the
President at the Olympics closing ceremony, noting that it
was her first visit there for some time. She observed that
China's rapid development and its ability to galvanize its
people for the Olympics called into question assumptions that
its political system would limit its economic
competitiveness. China's rapid rise was leading many to
wonder when it would embrace Western political values, while

others worried that it would begin to impose its own. Noting
that MM Lee was an early advocate of blending Asian and
Western values, the Secretary sought his views on whether and
how China would adapt and how it might seek to exert its
influence.


5. (C) MM Lee responded that the pace of China's integration
with the rest of the world in part would depend on how the
world reacts to China. He suggested that if protectionist
rhetoric in the West were translated into policy, there is a
risk the world would break into regional blocs and limit
interaction. Even so, MM Lee predicted integration would
resume within 8-10 years. Today, a country could only
protect its markets at the cost of its own competitiveness,
he said. Assuming "rationality prevails" elsewhere, China
would increasingly integrate as more of its people were
Western educated, traveled abroad and had access to the
internet and modern communications. MM Lee noted that
China's current leaders learned Russian as their first
foreign language; by 2030, he predicted, almost all would
have advanced degrees from the United States or Europe. Such
people would know where China lagged and how to catch up.
Their goal would be to preserve order and, within that order,
find ways to be more competitive.


6. (C) China's leaders had studied the experience of Japan,
South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, MM Lee continued, and
figured out that China's backwardness was due to its
isolation. They would not fall into the trap of protecting

SINGAPORE 00001016 002 OF 003


native industries, as Japan and Korea had done, but rather
use Singapore's openness as a model. Today, MM Lee noted,
China does not have just one national car company, but rather
hosts operations from all of the world's major car companies.
MM Lee recalled that Deng Xiaoping had observed during a
1978 visit how Singapore encouraged multinational companies
to establish themselves here and then used the revenue they
generated to build infrastructure and invest in its people.
What China wants now is to educate its people, "and it is
doing so furiously." China's leadership wants their students
to get an education overseas, gain know-how, and then come
back.

Chinese Are "Not Evangelists"
--------------


7. (C) MM Lee dismissed the notion that the Chinese had an
interest in imposing their political values on others, saying
"they are not evangelists." Rather, the Chinese just want to
be left alone so they can focus on development. For
political models they did not look to others in Asia but
rather studied Singapore, because they want to know "how we
can hold elections and still win." They had observed how
Singapore's ruling party stays connected to the grass roots
and how its MP's stay focused on providing services to their
constituents, a system MM Lee described as rooted in
Confucian values, but with a "Western approach."


8. (C) Even so, MM Lee suggested Chinese leaders had a long
way to go to overcome their "mandarin mentality." He
recalled that during his first visit to China in 1976, his
hosts were deeply uncomfortable when he would try to open the
curtains in his car. Even today, China's leaders prefer cars
with darkened glass; "they don't want to be seen, whereas we
want to be seen." A noted exception was Premier Wen Jiabao,
whom MM Lee described as "a natural." Wen visited the scene
immediately after the Sichuan earthquake and it was clear
even watching on television that he spoke with genuine
sympathy for the victims. Later, when the entire Party
Standing Committee turned up, it was clear they were "playing
a part." It will be difficult for China to "find more Wens."
But a new generation of leaders with exposure to the world
and PhDs from the Europe and the United States will have a
different "sense of place in the world," MM Lee predicted,
and will want China to be comparable to the West both in
terms of the comforts of life and norms of civilized
behavior.


9. (C) Secretary Chao noted that she participates in forums
all over the world and often hears expressions of fear over
China's rapid resurgence. The cultural differences were
obvious. Secretary Chao wondered how it would be possible to
bridge the gap and asked whether MM Lee was concerned about
rising nationalism in China. MM Lee responded that it was
natural for others to worry about China, given its size;
after all, a single province in China can be the size of two
large European countries. Nationalism was a natural stage
for China to go through, but it would need to guard against
overconfidence. China had done well staging the Olympics, he
said, but "if they believe they've arrived, it's a big
mistake." It would be another 30 to 40 years before China
had a workforce that could compete with Japan's.


10. (SBU) MM Lee predicted that over time, Chinese leaders
would become "more bilingual and more bicultural. He said it
was worthwhile to compare the current generation of Japanese
and Koreans with that of the 1950's and 1960s, who were
nationalistic and xenophobic. Today their leaders have
advanced degrees from the West and are conversant in world
affairs, even if those characteristics have not fully
permeated through their societies. China suffers from a "big
country syndrome" and the interior of the country is nowhere
near as sophisticated as the coastal areas. It could take
"100 years," MM Lee said, to develop the interior of China.
The railway China had built to Lhasa reflected its

SINGAPORE 00001016 003 OF 003


determination, but also highlighted its problems. The
Tibetans would never be convinced it had been built for their
benefit, and the influx of Han Chinese to Tibet was setting
the stage for an enormous problem.

U.S. Future
--------------


11. (C) Asked for his thoughts on the future of the United
States, depending on the outcome of the Presidential
election, MM Lee said that if United States followed the
ideological direction of Europe, "you are done for." There
will always be a "tussle" within societies as "underachievers
want more support," but addressing their needs must be done
in a way that does not kill incentive. It would be
impossible in the future for countries to sell to China while
at the same time blocking their exports, he added.


Maintaining Chinese Language Overseas
--------------


12. (C) MM Lee asked the Secretary and her father, Dr.
Chao, about their family history and their preferences
regarding use of the Chinese language. Dr. Chao described
his upbringing in China, education in Shanghai and the
circumstances that brought him to the United States. Noting
that her father had been a sea captain and "self-made man,"
the Secretary described the efforts of her parents to
establish the family in the United States as "inspiring."
She said that she and her five sisters had worked hard to
learn both English and Chinese while growing up. The
Secretary said she usually spoke Chinese with her father, but
acknowledged that sometimes it was easier to use English.


13. (C) MM Lee said it was very difficult to learn Chinese
under such circumstances. He recalled that Chinese, English,
Malay and Tamil had all played an important part in
Singapore's history. At the time of Singapore's independence
from Malaysia, the new government which MM Lee led faced
pressure from the majority ethnic Chinese to replace Malay as
the national language with Chinese. However, given
Singapore's history and the political sensitivity of such a
move, the government instead kept Malay as the national
language, recognized all four languages as official
languages, and allowed parents to choose whether to place
children in vernacular schools, where English was taught as a
second language, or in public schools, where English was the
language of instruction and vernaculars were taught as the
second language. Within about ten years, parents realized
the advantages of the latter, PM Lee said, because a command
of English was necessary to get good jobs.


14. (C) MM Lee said that maintaining a relatively competent
standard of Chinese in Singapore today is a challenge. Many
Singaporeans speak Chinese well but have trouble reading and
writing it. He noted that his son (apparently referring to
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong) went through Chinese
vernacular schools for twelve years, but after attending an
English-language university, got out of the habit of reading
and writing Chinese. Today, before delivering speeches in
Chinese, his son notates the Chinese-language text heavily in
order to ease delivery.


15. (U)Secretary Chao's party cleared this message.

Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm
HERBOLD