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CARY

Who attends a foreign leader’s funeral is not simply a matter of diplomatic protocol, it is also an indicator of the state of relations between two countries.
So who represents China at Lee Kuan Yew’s funeral in Singapore on Sunday will speak volumes about the importance that Beijing places on its ties with the city state and more importantly the respect it reserves for its founding father.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman has said only that Chinese leaders will attend Lee’s funeral, without elaborating.
China’s seventh-ranked leader and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli paid his respects to Lee at Singapore’s embassy in Beijing, the most senior Chinese leader to do so.
China’s heads of state or Communist Party chiefs have rarely attended foreign leaders’ funerals, even those of founding fathers of China’s communist allies.
Premier Zhou Enlai, not Mao Zedong, attended Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s funeral in 1953.
Likewise, Vice Premier Li Xiannian attended the funeral of Vietnam’s communist founding father Ho Chi Minh in 1969.
The only exception was in 1980 when then party chairman and premier Hua Guofeng led a Chinese delegation to attend Yugoslavian leader Marshal Tito’s funeral.
However, Hua was a lame duck leader as Deng Xiaoping was in real charge and Hu Yaobang was the party general secretary.
Diplomat experts said that according to China’s diplomatic protocol, it normally sends a deputy premier or a president’s special envoy to the funeral of a foreign leader who is identified as “an old friend of the Chinese people”. President Xi Jinping described Lee in these terms this week in his message of condolence.
This practice was observed when Vice President Li Yuanchao attended Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December 2013.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing and Singapore said President Xi was unlikely go to Singapore, partly due to diplomatic protocol, and also because Barack Obama is also unlikely to attend.
But some China watchers speculate that Xi, or another very senior Chinese leader might go, given Lee’s exceptional status.
Zhu Zhiqun, the director of the China Institute at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, said it was likely Xi would attend the funeral, given the huge impact that Lee and Singapore have had on China. 
“Lee’s influence on China’s development model is probably unparalleled,” Zhu said.
It was also revealing that condolences were immediately sent to Singapore from the highest levels of China’s government, the Chinese Communist Party and the National People’s Congress, which was very rare, he said. 
Steve Tsang, the dean of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at Nottingham University in Britain, said that if Xi did go it would be to send a signal that he approved of Lee’s leadership style and wanted to embrace a similar approach in China. 
“Xi has plenty on his agenda and making a trip like this to Singapore will require a real reason, which will have to be about sending a powerful message to his colleagues and to the country at large,” Tsang said.
Pan Chengxin, a China watcher at Deakin University in Australia and Pu Xiaoyu, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Nevada, said that if Xi does not attend, Premier Li Keqiang or another very senior leader might go.
“I think at least someone like Premier Li Keqiang will attend, if not Xi Jinping himself,” Pan said
Pu said the Foreign Ministry did not name any particular leader because they wanted to maintain some flexibility as top officials in the government always have busy schedules
President Xi is scheduled to visit the Boao Forum on the southern island of Hainan this week.
Zhu at Bucknell University, said, however, that the trip south would make it easier for the president to opt to fly to Singapore.
“I would be very surprised if Xi does not go,” he said.
 


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Lee Kuan Yew

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Xi and Lee meet in Beijing in 2007. Lee Kuan Yew is one of the few men to have met all the modern-day leaders of China: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping. Photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping. China's heads of state have rarely attended the funerals of other world leaders. Photo: Xinhua

Xi Jinping pays tribute to ‘old friend of the Chinese people’, Lee Kuan Yew

Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with Lee Kuan Yew at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in November, 2007. Photo: Xinhua

Lee Kuan Yew and Barack Obama, pictured together in 2009. Photo: AFP

Lee Kuan Yew (left) meets Shinzo Abe in Tokyo in May, 2006. Photo: AP

News

China

Some analysts suggest Xi Jinping may break diplomatic protocol and attend, given the respect awarded to Singapore’s founding father


Who attends a foreign leader’s funeral is not simply a matter of diplomatic protocol, it is also an indicator of the state of relations between two countries.
