Lawrence Wong
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in a nationally televised speech at the 2023 National Day Rally that he will hand over power to the leader of the fourth-generation leadership team in the near future, the current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong. Lee announced his intention to hand over the power as prime minister in November 2023. This is the second time in the nearly 60 years since the founding of Singapore that a leader other than the Lee family has emerged. Lawrence Wong was the "biggest dark horse" in Singapore's political arena. Compared with many Singaporean government elites, Lawrence Wong's hobby of playing guitar is also very down-to-earth.
Lawrence Wong was born in Singapore in December 1972, and his ancestral home is Hainan, China. His mother had been a primary school teacher for decades. He lived with his parents in a HDB flat since he was a child. The children of primary school teachers attended ordinary neighborhood primary schools. Lawrence Wong has never shied away from the fact that he is a descendant of immigrants from Hainan. Compared with many ministerial figures in Singapore, his background is relatively grassroots. His ancestral home is in Hainan, China, and his father was born in Hainan. He first immigrated to Malaysia and then Singapore. He is an ordinary office worker. It has been reported on the Internet that there are still old residences in Beishan Village, Wenchang, Hainan, where some distant relatives live.
Until entering Victoria Junior College, Lawrence Wong did not study in the top schools in Singapore (such as Raffles Institution, Hwa Chong Institution). He graduated from the Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore. After graduating from Weichu, he won a public scholarship with excellent grades to study economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since then, he has received a master's degree in economics and public administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Lawrence Wong served in several government departments in Singapore, including the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, etc. In 2005, Huang Xuncai was favored by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and served as the Prime Minister's Chief Private Secretary for 3 years. He served as the CEO of the Energy Market Authority. In 2011, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Boon Lay District of the West Coast GRC. Since being elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2011 general election, he has shined in Singapore's political arena with a rocket-like promotion speed in recent years. In May 2014, Lawrence Wong was appointed Minister of Culture, Community and Youth, concurrently as First Deputy Minister of Communications and Information, and subsequently served as Minister of National Development (2015), Minister of Education (2020), and Minister of Finance (2021). On April 14, 2022, he was officially elected as the leader of the fourth-generation leadership team. On June 6 of the same year, he was officially promoted to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
An important turning point occurred in January 2020. In the face of the menacing coronavirus pandemic, the Singapore government established an interdepartmental group leader, and he served as the co-chairman. The Covid-19 pandemic was one of the deciding voters in the choice of Singapore’s fourth Prime Minister. The 2020 general election did Heng Swee Keat, the anointed PM-to-be, no favor. Unfortunately, Heng was not in the task force where Lawrence Wong was fast growing wings as a potential Prime Minister in the way he dealt with the crisis – in capturing the extent of each stage of the crisis and explaining to Singaporeans what each must do to help out. It appeared to be nationhood-building at its most basic.
He also co-chaired the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on COVID-19 from 2020 - 2023, which oversaw the Singapore Government’s response to the pandemic. Lawrence Wong had shown leadership and political wisdom in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, promoting economic recovery, and maintaining international relations. He led Singapore's epidemic prevention and control and economic relief measures, and made important contributions to the country's stability and development. Because Singapore withstood the test of multiple rounds of epidemics, Lawrence Wong has gained attention and affirmation. His abilities were also put in the spotlight and recognized by the people and colleagues. He also actively participated in regional and international affairs, maintained good communication and cooperation with China, the United States and other countries, and injected new vitality into Singapore's foreign policy.
On 16 April 2022, the post of Singapore's next prime minister, which was vacant due to the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policy Heng Ruijie, finally came to fruition. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued a statement announcing that Lawrence Wong, then Minister of Finance, received the overwhelming support of the cabinet members and was officially elected as the leader of the fourth generation of Singapore. (that is, the next prime minister)
Now that the fourth generation choice was made, Lee would discuss with Wong the timeline and next steps, the Straits Times quoted the incumbent prime minister as saying. "I'm looking forward to handing over to Lawrence once he is ready," Lee told a press conference on Saturday, adding that the transition would be done "carefully and deliberately". One factor to consider would be the next general election, which was due by 2025, he noted. Lee said he would discuss with Wong the best strategy to approach the handover. The discussion will cover whether the handover will be conducted ahead of the poll, or Lee will fight and win the election first before doing so. "But either way, our plan is for Lawrence to be the next prime minister if the PAP wins the next general election. That has been settled," he added.
Lawrence Wong was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. He also was the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Chairman of Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, Deputy Chairman of the GIC Board, Chairman of GIC’s Investment Strategies Committee and a member of the Future Economy Council, the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council and the National Research Foundation Board. In addition, he contributes to the labour movement as Advisor to the Union of Power and Gas Employees, and the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees’ Union.
After the new leadership took office, Singapore faced a series of challenges and opportunities. The most important of these is how to deal with the competition and cooperation between China and the United States, and how to safeguard its own interests and influence in the context of globalization and multilateralism.
In some recent speeches, Lawrence Wong expressed his views and positions on Sino-US relations. He believes that neither China nor the United States wants a full-scale open confrontation or war, but fierce or extreme competition is the next defining feature of Sino-US relations. He said that Singapore hopes that the competition between China and the United States can be controlled by guardrails, but people must also be prepared for unpredictable and even dangerous consequences.
Lawrence Wong also said that Singapore supports the deepening of cooperation between ASEAN and China to jointly maintain regional peace, stability and development. Singapore will continue to promote the entry into force and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as well as the construction of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) free trade zone, he said. He also said that Singapore will actively participate in the reform and improvement of the global governance system, and contribute to addressing transnational challenges such as climate change, cyber security, and terrorism.
In April 2018, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore was invited to China to attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 and pay a working visit to China. Lawrence Wong, then Minister of National Development and Second Minister of Finance, also accompanied him and signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between New Zealand and China. After that, Lawrence Wong rose all the way and held many important positions. Among them will include the co-chairman of the Singapore-Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council, the co-chairman of the Singapore interdepartmental anti-epidemic working group, and so on.
On 14 April 2024 Wong set off for Shanghai for a five-day visit to China. This was Wong's second visit to China after many years, and his first visit to China as the next leader of Singapore, which is of great significance. Wong stated: "Singapore and China recently upgraded relations to an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership during PM Lee Hsien Loong's visit there in March. It shows how both sides are committed to taking our multi-faceted collaboration to the next level, in tandem with the interests and priorities of our peoples, and to meet the challenges not just of today but also of tomorrow. On this visit, I will be meeting both old and new friends, and look forward to working with them to strengthen our ties."
In Shanghai, the first stop of his visit to China, Lawrence Wong met with Singaporeans living here and held in-depth talks with many Chinese political leaders. He said he started his day at Ant Group, one of China's largest fintech services companies. Jing Xiandong introduced the development history of Ant Group and the development of Singapore business to Lawrence Wong, which greatly interested Lawrence Wong. When visiting the exhibition hall, Huang Xuncai also asked Ant Group's senior management a lot of questions about Ant Group's digital payment and green development business. It seems that he attaches great importance to this field.
Lawrence Wong tweeted that "the two cities ( Singapore and Shanghai) have complementary advantages, and if the two sides continue to deepen their cooperation, they will be able to exert great synergy and benefit everyone." Wong said that Shanghai is the vanguard of China's development, so he also believes that Singapore and Shanghai can also become the vanguard of the establishment of "all-round high-quality forward-looking partnership" between Singapore and China, and create more exciting and groundbreaking developments for the two countries. Pathfinding for cooperative projects. Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining thanked Lawrence Wong for making Shanghai the first stop of his visit to China.
Lee called on the Singaporeans to support Lawrence Wong and the fourth-generation leadership team (4G team). "Lawrence and the 4G team have worked hard to gain the people's trust, notably during the pandemic. Through the Forward Singapore exercise, they have worked with many Singaporeans to refresh our social compact and develop the national agenda for a new generation," Lee said in his Facebook post. The new leadership is committed to keeping Singapore working well and moving ahead, which are always top priorities for the government, Lee stressed. "I ask all Singaporeans to give Lawrence and his team your full support, and work with them to create a brighter future for Singapore," Lee said.
Lee Hsien Loong handed over power to Lawrence Wong, marking a major change in Singapore's political leadership. Lawrence Wong would lead the fourth-generation leadership team to usher in the future of Singapore, building on the achievements and experiences of those who came before. Lawrence Wong took over as the new Prime Minister of Singapore (with a high probability of 2025 around the next general election in Singapore).
The famous Lawrence Wong Guan Yi is a Singaporean actor and he is considered one of the top rising stars in Chinese showbusiness today. This other Lawrence Wong was born on August 5, 1988 in Malaysia. He is an actor, known for Story of Yanxi Palace (2018), AI is coming (2018) and One Boat One World (2021).
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