By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent

THIRTY years after the Middle Kingdom threw open its gates and embarked on economic reforms, it will enter a tougher phase of progress, predicts Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

As China moves into the second stage of its economic development, it needs to upgrade workers' skills and attract more capital- and skills-intensive foreign investments, he said yesterday.

Eventually, it will have to look at inventing its own products just as the Japanese did. But Mr Lee is sanguine about its ability to do so, saying China is 'on the right track'.

Needed: People who can engage China

S'pore needs to co-opt 50 Chinese steeped in the culture each year

By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent

PRIVATE banker Leiny Tan was born in Wuhan city, grew up in Guangdong province and got her university degree in the United States.

But she eventually decided to make Singapore her home after arriving here as a student in 1991.

Now a citizen, the 40-year-old is in charge of the China market for US banking giant Citigroup, responsible for managing the finances of super-rich Chinese nationals based here and in China.

How China succeeded in getting ahead

Key factors: Bold reforms, embracing globalisation, gradual implementation

By Ong Hwee Hwee

THE recipe for China's phenomenal success story lies in three main ingredients, says its ambassador to Singapore, Madam Zhang Xiaokang.

They are: being bold in pushing through reforms, brave in opening up but cautious in implementing change, doing it one step at a time.

Madam Zhang was speaking at an event yesterday to mark 30 years of reforms, which have propelled the once-isolated regime into a global economic power.

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