Lee may have been skeptical about the benefits of democracy, but he was not viscerally hostile to it; he understood its usefulness. By contrast, China’s leaders view democracy as an existential ideological threat that must be neutralized at any cost.
李光耀也许质疑民主的好处，但他内心并不敌视民主；他知道民主的用处。相反，中国领导人将民主视为生存性意识形态威胁，必须不惜任何代价将其屏蔽。对他们来说，允许哪怕是一丁点作为约束精英纪律的方式的民主，也是自杀性的大错。