#90 - How Deng Xiaoping's Visit To Singapore Changed China Forever - Professor Tan Kong Yam (In Partnership with RSIS)

Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Professor Tan Kong Yam. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. For more information on the school and its programmes see here - https://rsis.edu.sg/publications/rsis-publications/ For show notes and information on our collaboration, please go to ykeith.com/rsis GUEST DESCRIPTION:Professor Tan Kong Yam is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Nanyang Technological University and NTUC Endowed Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.He occupies an unusual position in the history of Singapore–China relations: he was in the room when Dr Goh Keng Swee first visited China. From 1985, when Deng Xiaoping invited Dr Goh Keng Swee to advise China on its economic development strategy, Tan served as Goh's chief assistant. Fluent in Mandarin, he sat close enough to Deng to take his own notes through the Sichuan accent, and travelled with the Singapore delegation through Beijing, Shanghai, and the coastal cities as the architecture of China's Special Economic Zones was being drawn. He went on to serve as chief economist of the Singapore government from 1999 to 2002, as a senior economist at the World Bank's Beijing office from 2002 to 2005, and as a member of the World Bank expert group advising the State Council on China's Eleventh Five-Year Plan. TIMESTAMPS0:00 Trailer1:18 Dr Goh's First Visit to China 5:30 The Chinese Psyche In PRC's Early Days 10:06 Dr Goh's Verdict On China's Potential 15:30 What China Was Like Post Revolution 17:30 Deng Visits Singapore 21:08 China As Yao Ming? 27:43 Fuzhou, A Young Mayor, And A Debt Repaid30:50 Why Xi's Generation Are Obsessed With Production 33:30 Prof Tan's Prediction 36:03 1989: When The Window Nearly Closed39:00 Lee Kuan Yew's Epiphany 42:50 Lee Kuan Yew Predicts China's Rise in 199549:44 What Singapore Understood That The West Did Not56:15 The Downside Of China's Ascendance 1:01:39 China's Capital Turns Towards ASEANThis is the 90th episode Of The Front Row PodcastA huge thank you to our amazing Front Row Friends for supporting and advancing the podcast: @marinama2728@deborahchoi1455@annkowong@yewchoutan5876Full transcripts of episodes can be found here: https://www.ykeith.com/tag/podcast/Feel free to mingle in the comments below or head to...Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontrow.65/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-yap/Website: www.ykeith.comEmail: [email protected] access to every episode by subscribing for free on Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/keith-yap8 or Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/front-row/id1771599400