So just who is Deng's closest political bedfellow?
Which political leader would Deng Xiaoping be in terms of his political philosophy: Lee Kuan Yew, Chiang Kai-shek, Benito Mussolini, Augusto Pinochet or the Kangxi Emperor?
The answer, according to Professor Ezra Vogel, is Lee Kuan Yew. Vogel, who is the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University, was speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club yesterday about Deng and what he would think of China today.
He said Lee and Deng had many meetings and had enormous respect for each other and were considerate of their respective sensibilities. Vogel tells the story of how the health-conscious Lee prepared for a visit from Deng, who liked to smoke and spit. Lee had an extractor built into his office wall to deal with the smoke and had a spittoon placed near Deng's chair. The two had their meeting, but Deng neither smoked nor used the spittoon. Vogel says the two people closest to Deng from outside mainland China were Lee and Hong Kong shipping magnate Y.K. Pao.
Vogel, who became a celebrity in Japan with the publication of his book Japan as Number One: Lessons for America, says he feels the same kind of 'tectonic vibrations' with his latest book, Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. The Hong Kong University Press published the Chinese version of the book on Tuesday, and he's in discussions with a mainland publisher, though he said it would have 'to be adapted to the needs of mainland publication'.
But Vogel said if 80 to 90 per cent of it survived, he would be inclined to proceed.
