Time-tested recipe for success

One needs to look no further than the banks along the Singapore River, which flows through the city-state's central business district, to see firsthand the results of its miraculous transformation into a developed country.

Along this river bank there is a bronze bust of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, which was installed to commemorate the "special and intimate" relationship between Singapore and China.

This relationship was only possible thanks to Deng and late Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew. The two great statesmen met in 1978 during Deng's visit to Singapore, which laid the foundation for an evolving bilateral relationship that has benefited the two countries, and the wider region, tremendously.

Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies, hailed the China-Singapore relationship as an example of friendly cooperation between big and small countries.

Back in 1978, China was initiating its reform and opening-up drive. Thus, it was not just coincidence that drove Deng to explore the city-state's recipe for modernization.

Deng continued to express his admiration of the Singapore model throughout the decades, most notably in speeches made during his tour of southern China in 1992, a tour which was the beginning of China's shift toward its socialist market economy.

On his part, Lee was no stranger to China either.

During his multiple visits to the country, spanning nearly four decades, he met with generations of Chinese leaders. During one of these visits, to Beijing in May 2011, Lee was received by Xi Jinping, who was vice-president at the time. Xi praised him as the founder of the bilateral relationship and an old friend of the Chinese people.

The current intimate relationship between Singapore and China has been cemented thanks to direct and continuous interaction from the leaderships of both countries. Formal relations were officially initiated in 1990.

After assuming the presidency in 2013, Xi has continued to maintain this relationship, meeting his Singaporean counterpart Tony Tan Keng Yam twice and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong twice.

Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, said intergovernmental projects are the highlights of China-Singapore cooperation.

These intergovernmental projects are the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-City. Another project in western China is being considered.

Despite the decades-old relationship, there is still plenty of potential for further cooperation.

Singapore is a major offshore renminbi hub, and the Belt and Road Initiative has opened up opportunities for Singapore in the globalization of the renminbi and overseas investment of Chinese companies. Singapore is also one of the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Moreover, Singapore has always served as a bridgehead for cooperation between China and its fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations members.

The two countries signed the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in 2008, paving the way for the official completion of the China-ASEAN free trade zone two years later. Now with soaring trade exchanges, China, Singapore and ASEAN are looking forward to upgrading cross-border economic cooperation.

Zheng said the Singapore Model was known for its efficient economic and social management, its rule of law and clean governance. For China domestically, this model has been influential.

As China's reform and opening-up moves forward, a new consensus is forming in Singapore: A growing China presents Singapore an opportunity.

Koh Chin Yee, CEO of Longus Research Institute, said one of the reasons that Singapore had emerged as a pioneer of collaboration with China is that both share many cultural similarities.