Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister  of Singapore, died on Monday, March 23, 2015, at the age of 91, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office. Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer, is widely credited with building Singapore into one of the world's wealthiest nations. He co-founded the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore since 1959 and led the newly born country when it was separated from Malaysia in 1965. In Beijing's eyes, Lee Kuan Yew, the late founding father and leader of Singapore, was not only "an old friend of the Chinese people", but also "the founder of China-Singapore relations", according to China's previous official news releases about his visits. Chinese media estimated that he had been to China more than 20 times, and he was known for his good personal relations with China's top figures, especially former leader Deng Xiaoping. Zhang Jiuhuan, the Chinese ambassador  to Singapore from 2000 to 2004, noted that "it was a _ case" at the time that a foreign prime minister would visit China, as Lee did in 1976, in the absence of diplomatic relations  between the two nations. Deng then paid back the visit, going to Singapore in 1978, in what Zhang described as a sensational trip. Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China in Beijing, noted that Lee's No 1 contribution to China was his efforts in "sharing Singapore's successful experience in governance", adding that "China has benefited a lot" from this. The China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, inaugurated in February 1994 in Jiangsu province in East China, was proposed by Lee, who even went to the city in 1992 to inspect the site for the park. Now, with the park serving as a role model for China's economic cooperation with foreign countries, more such industrial parks hosted or co-hosted by China have been established domestically and abroad. How long has the People's Action Party (PAP) ruled Singapore?
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