DPM Teo visits historic Chinese city

DPM Teo visits historic Chinese city

A MOUNTAINOUS region considered the cradle of the Chinese Communist Revolution welcomed Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, yesterday. He is the most senior leader from the Republic to visit the region.

He arrived at Jinggangshan city in central Jiangxi province from Beijing, the first of three stops on his China visit which began on Tuesday.

He toured the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum, which chronicles the rise of the Communist Party through the work of pioneers Mao Zedong and Zhu De.

After the failure of the 1927 Autumn Uprising against the Kuomintang (KMT) in Hunan province, Mao led his troops to Jinggangshan in neighbouring Jiangxi.

It was in Jinggangshan that Mao developed his doctrine on the Chinese rural revolution of building up its influence in rural areas before encircling cities and seizing power through force. He also honed guerilla warfare tactics that helped build up the Chinese Red Army, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army.

Mr Teo also visited Huangyangjie, one of the five key guardposts in Jinggangshan cited in several of Mao's poems and where the communists scored a crucial victory in 1928 over KMT troops.

Mr Teo later toured Ba Jiao Lou, a two-storey building known for its eight-sided skylight where Mao lived and worked from 1927 to 1929.

Accompanying Mr Teo on the four-hour tour of the three sites were the Communist Party's organisation department chief, Mr Zhao Leji, and Jiangxi provincial party secretary Qiang Wei.

Mr Teo, who is the minister-in-charge of the Civil Service, and Mr Zhao, a Politburo member who oversees the party's personnel matters, also met at a dinner yesterday evening.

Both leaders will host the 5th China-Singapore Forum On Leadership at the China Executive Leadership Academy today. The theme this year is Fostering Consensus With Our People And Building National Unity.

The forum was started in 2009 and serves as a platform for middle- and senior-ranking officials from both sides to network and discuss issues related to leadership development. The event was subsequently held in 2010, 2012 and 2013, with both countries taking turns to host it.

After a lunch meeting with Mr Qiang today, Mr Teo will travel to Shanghai where he will attend Singapore Day tomorrow.

He will also visit the Republic of Singapore Navy's vessel, RSS Resolution, which is docked in the Chinese city.

kianbeng@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on Apr 10, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.