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Like no other country in the world, Singapore has drawn the attention of Chinese officials and scholars alike. This “Singapore fever” (Xinjiapo re 新加坡热) has, on the one hand, been due to the desire to find an alternative development path that would combine modernization with one-party rule and, on the other, is based on the belief by these Chinese observers that there are key similarities between China and Singapore that allow for meaningful comparison.1 The majority of the Southeast Asian city-state's population is ethnic Chinese, suggesting that there are cultural similarities while its ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has Leninist elements that appear to be similar to those in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In particular, there is a top-down leadership based in the Central Executive Committee with a cadre system in which recruitment is conducted through careful screening and a disciplined and cohesive party with powerful grassroots organizations such as the “Young PAP,” “Women's Wing,” etc. Moreover, Singapore has also already undergone a process of rapid economic growth based on developmental planning, government-linked corporations and an export orientation.
Singapore exemplifies what Chinese reformers strive for: resilient authoritarianism despite advanced development with good governance and political stability. This should be achieved not through democratization which would end the Communist Party's monopoly on power but instead through authoritarian tinkering in order to enhance the administrative capacity of the government and gain genuine popular support.2 Chinese observers see this ideal as having been attained in Singapore, which appears to have developed practical solutions to a wide range of problems that are now confronting China. It is thus not surprising that thousands of Chinese officials have visited Singapore following Deng's Southern Tour in 1992. One of them was Xi Jinping 习近平, who in 1993 visited the city-state when he was still governor of Fujian province.3 In November 2007, shortly after he had been promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi met Lee Kuan Yew 李光耀 and discussed with him various issues about the city-state's governance model, including the training of civil servants and meet-the-people sessions.4 In response to Lee Kuan Yew's death, Xi called the statesman an “old friend” of China.5 Many other Chinese leaders also sent...