End of an Era in Singapore as Prime Minister Set to Step Down After 20 Years


李显龙将于5月15日正式卸任，继任者黄循财将领导这个在经济、外交和军事上都扮演重要角色的城市国家。


新加坡总理李显龙将于5月15日正式卸任。

新加坡现任领导人在执政近20年后即将卸任，过渡期经过了精心安排，旨在经济和地缘政治动荡之际维护这个城市国家享有的稳定声誉。 6park.com
Singapore’s leader is stepping down after nearly two decades in office, in a transition carefully engineered to preserve the city-state’s reputation as a stable spot through times of economic and geopolitical turbulence.  6park.com
   
新加坡总理公署周一表示，总理李显龙将于5月15日正式卸任，将把权力交棒给副总理黄循财(Lawrence Wong)。现年72岁的李显龙自2004年以来一直担任新加坡总理，他是新加坡第一任总理李光耀的长子。外界普遍认为，这个前英国殖民地从一个热带落后小国发展为东南亚最发达的国家，李光耀居功至伟。 6park.com
The office of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday that he will formally relinquish the post on May 15, clearing the way for his deputy Lawrence Wong to succeed him. Lee, 72, has been prime minister since 2004, and is the oldest son of Singapore’s first leader, Lee Kuan Yew. The elder Lee is widely credited with transforming the former British colony from a tropical backwater into the most developed nation in Southeast Asia.  6park.com
   
自那以来，新加坡一直在该地区扮演着举足轻重的角色，在经济、外交和军事上发挥了超水平的影响力。随着中国狠抓国家安全导致一些外企撤出香港，新加坡这个拥有590万人口的小型城市国家已成为一个越来越重要的地区贸易和金融中心。凭借可靠、税务友好和相对廉洁的声誉，新加坡继续吸引着跨国企业和超级富豪。 6park.com
Singapore has since taken on an outsize role in the region, punching above its weight economically, diplomatically and militarily. The tiny city state of 5.9 million people has become an increasingly crucial hub for regional trade and finance as China’s focus on national security has led some foreign businesses to pull out of Hong Kong. Its reputation as reliable, tax-friendly and relatively uncorrupt continues to attract multinational businesses and ultrarich foreigners.  6park.com
   
新加坡与美国和中国的关系都十分紧密。随着中美两国紧张局势加剧，李显龙一直站在最前沿阐述许多国家不想选边站队的观点。他在2022年的一次演讲中说，如果亚洲国家分裂为两大阵营，分庭抗礼，不会有好结果。 6park.com
Singapore has strong ties with the U.S. and China. As tensions between the two powers have risen, Lee has been at the forefront of articulating the view that many nations don’t want to pick sides. “There will be no good outcome if Asian countries are split between two camps, each siding with one or the other,” he said in a 2022 speech.


2019年，李显龙在北京出席与中国国家主席习近平的会晤。


去年9月，在印度尼西亚雅加达举行的东南亚国家联盟峰会上，李显龙与美国副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯合影。

他说，一个更稳定、更缓和的格局是，中美两个大国有重叠的朋友圈，其他国家发现有可能在两边都有朋友。 6park.com
“A more stable and less tense configuration is for the two powers to have overlapping circles of friends, and countries find it possible to have friends on both sides,” he said. 6park.com
    
黄循财此前表示，激烈或极端的竞争是中美关系接下来的决定性特征。他在去年的一次讲话中称，希望能有“防护栏”来管控这一竞争，但他警告说：“我们必须针对不可预测甚至危险的结果防患于未然。” 6park.com
Wong has said that intense, if not extreme, competition will be the defining feature of the U.S.-China relationship. In a speech last year, he said he hoped there will be “guardrails” to manage the competition, but cautioned that “we have to be prepared for unpredictable or even dangerous outcomes emerging.” 6park.com
   
李光耀创立的人民行动党(The People's Action Party)自1965年新加坡独立以来一直统治着这个国家。黄循财将成为新加坡有史以来第四位总理，也是第二位李氏家族之外的领导人。吴作栋(Goh Chok Tong)曾在李光耀和他的儿子李显龙的任期之间执政了14年。 6park.com
The People’s Action Party, founded by the elder Lee, has ruled uninterrupted since Singapore’s independence in 1965. Wong will become only the fourth prime minister the nation has ever known and the second outside the Lee family. Goh Chok Tong governed for 14 years between the tenures of the elder Lee and his son.  6park.com
   
政治分析人士认为，现年51岁的黄循财是党内的中坚力量，能在维持现状的同时吸引年轻选民。 6park.com
Wong is viewed by political analysts as a party stalwart who, at 51 years old, can appeal to younger voters while upholding the status quo.  6park.com
   
黄循财目前是新加坡两位副总理之一，同时也是李显龙内阁的财政部长。作为一名职业公务员，他曾在六个部门担任要职，并且从2011年以来一直是议员。然而是新加坡新冠疫情应对行动领导人的角色使他在国内家喻户晓，并提升了他在国外的知名度。当时全球各国政府都羡慕新加坡对疫情的处理，并向他的工作组寻求指导。 6park.com
He currently serves as one of two deputy prime ministers and is also chief of finance in Lee’s cabinet. A career civil servant, he has held senior positions in half a dozen ministries and has been a lawmaker since 2011. But it was his role as a leader of Singapore’s Covid-19 response that made him a household name domestically and raised his profile abroad. Governments across the globe envied Singapore’s handling of the pandemic and looked to his task force for guidance.  6park.com
   
在过去的两年里，新加坡执政党精心管理了将领导权过渡给黄循财的过程，在此期间，执政党齐心协力地把黄循财塑造成一个脚踏实地、风度优雅的人。与他同时代的许多人不同，黄循财并非出身精英阶层和预科学校。他在TikTok和Instagram上发布自己弹吉他、搂着金毛猎犬和光顾熟食中心的视频。熟食中心是新加坡的低价美食广场，被视为国宝。 6park.com
The transition to his leadership has been carefully managed over the past two years, during which the ruling party made a concerted push to present Wong, who didn’t come from the same elite class and prep schools as many of his contemporaries, as down-to-earth and personable. He posts videos of himself on TikTok and Instagram playing guitar, cuddling with golden retrievers and patronizing hawker centers—Singapore’s low-cost food courts that are cherished as a national treasure.


黄循财被认为更能迎合年轻选民的想法。

黄循财在美国大学获得经济学学士和硕士学位后，在新加坡的官僚机构中步步高升。他还获得了哈佛大学肯尼迪学院(Harvard Kennedy School)的公共管理硕士学位。2005年至2008年，他是李显龙的得力助手，担任李显龙的首席私人秘书。自2022年以来，他一直担任执政党领导层的二把手。 6park.com
Wong rose through the ranks of Singapore’s bureaucracy after earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at U.S. universities. He also earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. He was Lee’s right-hand man as his principal private secretary from 2005 to 2008, and since 2022 has been second-in-command of the ruling party’s leadership. 6park.com
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新加坡国立大学(National University of Singapore)政治学者庄嘉颖(Chong Ja Ian)说，他是一个安全的选择，一个他们信任的人。他指的是新加坡的执政党。他说，黄循财还没有明确表达他希望新加坡走向何方的清晰愿景，所以按照目前的节奏，他似乎乐于跟随李显龙的脚步。 6park.com
“He’s a safe choice, someone they trust,” said Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, referring to the ruling party. “Wong hasn’t articulated a clear vision for where he wants Singapore to go, so at the current pace he seems happy to follow Lee Hsien Loong’s lead.”  6park.com
   
作为执政党的人民行动党从未濒临失去过对权力的控制，在独立以来的全民投票选举中，每次都以获得超过60%的支持票获胜。得益于这一成功，该党几乎一直占据新加坡议会90%以上的席位。 6park.com
The ruling party has never come close to losing its grip on power, having won every election since independence with more than 60% of the popular vote. That success has translated into the party almost always holding more than 90% of Singapore’s parliamentary seats.  6park.com
   
美国国务院称新加坡最近的选举是自由和公开的，但表示执政党几十年来使用了各种措施，这些措施有效限制了反对党对其权力掌控发起有力挑战的能力。 6park.com
The U.S. State Department described Singapore’s most recent election as free and open, but said the ruling party has for decades used “a variety of measures that effectively limited the ability of the opposition to mount a serious challenge to its hold on power.” 6park.com
   
这些措施包括一些政治权利组织所称的选举制度中的结构性缺陷，以及对言论和集会自由的严格限制。执政党经常使用刑事诽谤法来对付反对党，在李显龙的领导下，执政党通过了两项影响广泛的新法律，人权组织称这些法律对言论自由产生了寒蝉效应。其中一项法律将“网上诽谤”定为刑事犯罪，另一项法律禁止“外国干涉”。 6park.com
These measures have included what some political rights groups call structural flaws in the electoral system and strict curbs on freedom of speech and assembly. The ruling party has often used criminal defamation laws against opponents, and under Lee’s leadership has passed two sweeping new laws that rights groups say have had a chilling effect on free speech. One criminalizes “online falsehoods” and the other bans “foreign interference.” 6park.com
   
新加坡政府为这些法律辩护说，这些法律是必要的，并表示不会遏制合法言论。 6park.com
The government has defended the laws as necessary and has said it doesn’t curb legitimate speech.  6park.com
   
在民众关注重点不断变化之际，新加坡选民已经趋于多元化，受教育程度也较高，在最近的一些选举中，执政党的支持率在慢慢下降。新加坡的年轻选民现在比以往任何时候都更加关注生活成本的大幅上升，另一些人也主张更多的个人自由和由社会公正驱动的政策。这些问题见证了新加坡主要反对党在过去三个选举周期中的进步——从2006年仅赢得两个席位到2020年赢得10个席位。 6park.com
Recent elections have seen support slowly erode among a diverse and educated electorate with changing priorities. Singapore’s young voters are more concerned than ever about soaring costs of living, while some also advocate for more personal freedoms and policies driven by social justice. These issues have seen the main opposition party make gains over the past three election cycles—from winning just two seats in 2006 to 10 seats in 2020.  6park.com
   
“黄循财给人的印象是更能迎合年轻选民的想法，”位于新加坡的政策研究所拉惹勒南国际研究学院(S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies)的高级研究员Alan Chong说。“但如果你看看过去20多年的投票情况，人民行动党的支持率已经呈逐步下降的趋势。我认为这种趋势不会消失。” 6park.com
“Wong has this image of being more in tune with younger voters,” said Alan Chong, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, a Singapore-based policy institute. “But if you look at voting over the past 20 years or so, the trend has been toward a gradual decline in support for the PAP. I don’t think that will go away.”