Lee Kuan Yew on communism

In 1978, we had a discourse. I said to him, Communism will only work if you believe that all men will sacrifice themselves for their fellow men and not [first] for themselves and their families. I work on the basis that all men and women first work for themselves and their families, and only then will they share a portion of it with the less fortunate. That's the basis on which I work. 

~ Lee Kuan Yew to Deng Xiaoping when he traveled to Singapore in November, 1978

Barbara Kolm and Miguel Del Valle on China's rise from poverty

In the 70s, China was among the poorest nations in the world.  Civil war and mismanagement by central authorities had torn the country apart.  Mao Zedong’s vision of self-reliance destroyed agriculture, devastated the economy ‘and led to mass starvation as people’s communes were established and resources were forcibly shifted from farming to heavy industry.’ (Dorn 2023)  The death of Mao and subsequent rise of Deng Xiaoping enabled a series of reforms that would turn the country away from central planning and toward a market-oriented economy. 

~ Barbara Kolm and Miguel Del Valle, "Free Trade Under Siege: Analyzing Contemporary Trade Policies," Free Trade in the Twenty-First Century (p. 237)

Henry Kissinger on Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping thought of himself as a great revolutionary and a great reformer.  He had dismantled the Chinese communist management of the economy.  In my next-to-last conversation with him, which was about six months before Tiananmen Square, he said to me that his aim would be the next phase to reduce the Communist Party to philosophical issues.  And I said, "What's a philosophical issue?"  And he said, "Well, like if we make an alliance with Russia."  Given his view of Russia, that was not the likeliest thing that would ever happen.

~ Henry Kissinger

The diplomat Chiao Kuan Hua, Secretary of State Kissinger

and Deng Xiaoping in 1974

Deng Xiaoping on wealth

To become rich is glorious.

~  Deng Xiaoping, Chinese Communist Party leader (1977-1989)