People bow as they pay their respects to the late former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese leaders will be attending the state funeral service for the late former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday.
Lei did not disclose the names of those who will be attending the funeral service to be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the University Cultural Center of the National University of Singapore.
Politicians from China and beyond have been paying tributes to Lee Kuan Yew, who died early Monday morning at the age 91 following a severe bout with pneumonia.
In a message of condolences, Chinese President Xi Jinping called Lee an "old friend of the Chinese people" and a widely respected strategist and a statesman by the international community.
He was the founder, pioneer and promoter of China-Singapore relations, said Xi.
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, maintained close ties with China and made dozens of visits to the country since 1976.
In 1993, Lee played a pivotal role in facilitating the first meeting between officials from mainland China and Taiwan.
China and Singapore formally established diplomatic ties in 1990.
In a message posted on the website of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Lee "worked together with the pioneering generation of Chinese leaders in opening the gate for the friendly cooperation between China and Singapore."
"His contributions to the China-Singapore relationship and China's reform and opening up will surely be marked by history," Li added.
Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung also hailed Lee and said that his knowledge on "how to build a thriving, proud, diverse and dynamic country will live on for generations, not just in Singapore or Asia, but the world over."
Lee co-founded the People's Action Party, which has governed Singapore since its independence in 1965. He is widely regarded as being the "architect" of the island nation's prosperity.
Singapore had declared a period of national mourning for the former prime minister from Monday to Sunday, the Prime Minister's Office said on Monday.
"The first of our founding fathers is no more. He inspired us, gave us courage, kept us together, and brought us here. He fought for our independence, built a nation where there was none, and made us proud to be Singaporeans," Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said of his father.
"We won't see another man like him. To many Singaporeans, and indeed others too, Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore," he added.
Lee's remains will lie in state at Parliament House from Wednesday to Saturday for the public to pay their respects.
