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PM Lee accepts top Japanese honour on behalf of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew

TOKYO — Singapore’s late founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was posthumously awarded one of Japan’s highest honours on Wednesday (Sept 28).

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TOKYO — Singapore’s late founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was posthumously awarded one of Japan’s highest honours on Wednesday (Sept 28).

Visiting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong accepted the award, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, on behalf of the late Mr Lee at a ceremony at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented the award and a citation scroll to PM Lee during the presentation ceremony. 

This is the first time that Japan has posthumously awarded the decoration to a foreign national. 

The late Mr Lee had previously received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, another highly prestigious decoration, when he visited Japan in 1967. 

The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, which sits one level above the Order of the Rising Sun, was elevated to a class of its own in 2003. Mr Lee Kuan Yew is the fifth foreign national to have received the award from Japan.

The award, announced in February, is in recognition of his role in deepening relations between Singapore and Japan. It will be backdated to the date of Mr Lee’s death — March 23, 2015.

PM Lee is on a four-day official visit to Japan.

At the presentation ceremony of the award on Wednesday, Mr Abe said: “The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew is one of the greatest minds that Asia has brought to the world in our time. I would like to give my utmost tribute to the extremely important role that he played for more than half a century for the peace and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, and of the entire world.”

The late Mr Lee also played an important role in developing ties between Singapore and Japan into the “favourable” relationship enjoyed by both countries today, he added. 

In his toast speech at the banquet after the presentation ceremony, PM Lee said the long-standing ties between Singapore and Japan began with Mr Lee Kuan Yew in the 1960s. 

The late Singapore leader had visited Japan many times over the years, and had met nearly every Japanese Prime Minister, from Mr Eisaku Sato to Mr Abe, the current Premier, said PM Lee. 

The late Mr Lee had developed a good understanding of the country and had encouraged Japan to play an active role in the region.

Said PM Lee: “Let us build on the foundations laid by Mr Lee and successive generations of Japanese leaders, and take our bilateral relations to greater heights.”

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