<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=560><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2>Singaporeans who have C-FACTOR <!-- TITLE : end--><!--
There is a small band of China-savvy public servants but not enough. The pool has to grow. -ST --></TD></TR><TR>
</TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2 align=left><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=content_subtitle align=left>Sat, Aug 22, 2009
The Straits Times </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width=400 align=right><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right>
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</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right><FORM method=post name=emailToFriendForm action=emailToFriend.jsp><INPUT value=/vgn-ext-templating/asiaone/emailToFriend.jsp?vgnextoid=3d559dc900f33210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6c2523b606d2a110VgnVCM100000bd0a0a0aRCRD type=hidden name=emailToFriendPageURL> <INPUT value=http://www.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20090822-162603.html type=hidden name=emailToFriendStoryLink>
</FORM><SCRIPT> function openEmailA1AdminWindow(emailToFriendForm) { var emailToFriendPageURL = emailToFriendForm.emailToFriendPageURL.value; emailToFriendForm.action = emailToFriendPageURL; emailToFriendForm.target="_blank"; emailToFriendForm.submit(); } </SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --><TR><TD class=bodytext_10pt colSpan=3><!-- CONTENT : start -->by Grace Ng & Sim Chi Yin, China Correspondents
BEIJING - If you have the C-factor, the Singapore civil service needs you.
This 'China-ready' quality has become a new buzzword since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for more China-savvy public servants to engage the Middle Kingdom.
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=300 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/static/ads/scripts/adsimu.js"></SCRIPT><!-- AdSpace 300X250 A1-STI IMU --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 type=text/javascript src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tasiaonenews&sec=asiaonea1news&pagepos=1&size=300X250"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- /AdSpace --><SCRIPT src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/DartRichMedia_1_03.js"></SCRIPT><!-- Sniffer Code for Flash version=80 --><SCRIPT language=VBScript> on error resume next ShockMode = (IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.8")))</SCRIPT><OBJECT id=flashad codeBase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" classid=clsid
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<EMBED SRC="http://adimage.asia1.com.sg/2009/hsbc/a14870/hsbc_a14870_2009June16_300x250_hsead.swf?clickTag=http%3A//ads.asia1.com.sg/event.ng/Type%3Dclick%26FlightID%3D21899%26AdID%3D26079%26TargetID%3D2065%26Segments%3D1%2C81%2C238%2C999%2C1211%2C1779%2C1780%2C1784%2C1891%2C2000%2C2099%2C2141%2C2174%2C2355%2C2410%2C2438%2C2464%2C2468%2C2491%2C2809%2C2829%2C2851%2C2875%2C2887%2C2915%2C2936%26Targets%3D2065%2C2911%2C2915%2C2970%2C3446%26Values%3D31%2C51%2C60%2C72%2C86%2C90%2C101%2C110%2C130%2C186%2C196%2C266%2C944%2C955%2C1480%2C1487%2C1978%2C2253%2C2865%2C2908%2C2920%2C4074%2C4087%2C4118%2C4119%2C4120%2C4335%2C4342%2C5615%2C5633%2C5640%2C5663%2C5748%2C5841%2C5915%2C5977%2C5980%26RawValues%3DDOCUMENTURI%252C/js.ng/site%3Dtsoshiok%26sec%3Dsoshiok_newsbite%26pagepos%3D3%26size%3D300X250%26Redirect%3Dhttp%3A%252f%252fwww.straitstimes.com/Overcoming%252bThe%252bStorm/Overcoming%252bThe%252bStorm.html" QUALITY=autohigh NAME=flashad swLiveConnect=TRUE WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></EMBED></OBJECT><NOEMBED></NOEMBED><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>'We need people who can understand the Chinese...be comfortable in their milieu,' he said last month, after unveiling a new scheme for Singaporeans to work for three to nine months in China before returning to do China-related work in the public service.</P><HR>Drinking is all part of the job
AFTER nine years and countless glasses of potent bai jiu (liquor), Mr Goh Tien Jin can consider himself an old China hand.
He has come to accept the heavy drinking required at banquets as part and parcel of his life here, said Mr Goh, the most senior Singaporean at the flagship bilateral Suzhou Industrial Park.
Chinese officials like to size up their foreign counterparts after a few bottles of bai jiu, red wine, beer or XO, he said.
<HR>Chinese among his closest buddies
AS THE thorn among the roses in his Chinese class, Mr Philip Ong was nicknamed 'Jia Baoyu' - the effeminate protagonist in the classic Chinese novel, Dream Of The Red Chamber.
It was in those Higher Chinese lessons at Victoria Junior College that Mr Ong developed a passion for things Chinese.
The chatty 31-year-old, who is now a First Secretary at the Singapore Embassy in Beijing, can still rattle off passages from that novel, which was his A-level text, to explain why he thrives here.
For more The Straits Times stories, click here.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
There is a small band of China-savvy public servants but not enough. The pool has to grow. -ST --></TD></TR><TR>
The Straits Times </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width=400 align=right><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right>
</TD><TD height=15>
</FORM><SCRIPT> function openEmailA1AdminWindow(emailToFriendForm) { var emailToFriendPageURL = emailToFriendForm.emailToFriendPageURL.value; emailToFriendForm.action = emailToFriendPageURL; emailToFriendForm.target="_blank"; emailToFriendForm.submit(); } </SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --><TR><TD class=bodytext_10pt colSpan=3><!-- CONTENT : start -->by Grace Ng & Sim Chi Yin, China CorrespondentsBEIJING - If you have the C-factor, the Singapore civil service needs you.
This 'China-ready' quality has become a new buzzword since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for more China-savvy public servants to engage the Middle Kingdom.
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=300 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/static/ads/scripts/adsimu.js"></SCRIPT><!-- AdSpace 300X250 A1-STI IMU --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 type=text/javascript src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tasiaonenews&sec=asiaonea1news&pagepos=1&size=300X250"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><!-- /AdSpace --><SCRIPT src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/DartRichMedia_1_03.js"></SCRIPT><!-- Sniffer Code for Flash version=80 --><SCRIPT language=VBScript> on error resume next ShockMode = (IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.8")))</SCRIPT><OBJECT id=flashad codeBase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" classid=clsid
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AFTER nine years and countless glasses of potent bai jiu (liquor), Mr Goh Tien Jin can consider himself an old China hand.
He has come to accept the heavy drinking required at banquets as part and parcel of his life here, said Mr Goh, the most senior Singaporean at the flagship bilateral Suzhou Industrial Park.
Chinese officials like to size up their foreign counterparts after a few bottles of bai jiu, red wine, beer or XO, he said.
<HR>Chinese among his closest buddies
AS THE thorn among the roses in his Chinese class, Mr Philip Ong was nicknamed 'Jia Baoyu' - the effeminate protagonist in the classic Chinese novel, Dream Of The Red Chamber.
It was in those Higher Chinese lessons at Victoria Junior College that Mr Ong developed a passion for things Chinese.
The chatty 31-year-old, who is now a First Secretary at the Singapore Embassy in Beijing, can still rattle off passages from that novel, which was his A-level text, to explain why he thrives here.
For more The Straits Times stories, click here.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
