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‘Marco Polo on his first visit to China’: When S. Rajaratnam met Zhou Enlai
As foreign minister, S. Rajaratnam paved the way for Singapore’s engagement of China in 1975. This edited excerpt from Irene Ng’s new book gives insights into his first visit to China.
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(From left) Then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai meeting Singapore's then Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam and Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lee Khoon Choy in Beijing in 1975.
PHOTO: XINHUA
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It was past 9pm, Sunday, March 16, 1975. Raja, the first Singapore leader to visit China since Singapore’s independence, was in a Chinese-made Red Flag limousine, curtains drawn, being whisked through the near-empty streets of Peking to an undisclosed place. He was not told where it was exactly, but what he knew was enough. He was on his way to meet the ailing Chinese premier Chou En-lai (Zhou Enlai) at a place that the Chinese had described as a hospital.
The late-night arrangement was not on the programme when he arrived in Peking with a four-man delegation three days earlier. In fact, he was told about it only that very evening over a dinner, after rounds of intensive talks with Chinese foreign minister Chiao Kuan-hua (Qiao Guanhua).
