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"We not only have 'elites', we also have the 'essence'." Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who took office in May, said this when he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Singapore National Day Rally.

The “essence” here is actually a shorthand term for “talents who are proficient in Mandarin (Singapore’s way of expressing Chinese)”.

The Chinese population in Singapore accounts for about 75% of the country's total population. However, since English is the national lingua franca and school instruction is mainly in English, there are not many young people who can express themselves fluently in Chinese.

The inability to master Chinese not only puts cultural heritage at risk, but also threatens Singapore's future development. As an important trade and financial center in Asia, and even known as the "Gateway to Asia", it would be difficult to serve as a bridge between the East and the West if there were only "elites".

The National Day Rally is almost the most important speech given by Singapore’s Prime Minister every year. In addition to summarizing Singapore’s current situation, it also outlines the vision for the future and inspires all Singaporeans to move towards the future together.

Regarding the policy direction shown in the National Day Rally speech, Zhou Shixin, director of the Southeast Asia Research Center of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the First Financial reporter that Lawrence Wong was very friendly and steady when giving the speech. At the same time, Lawrence Wong has worked with former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for many years and they have a good understanding on policy coordination. There will be no major policy adjustments in the early days of his administration.

Encourage people to improve their Chinese proficiency