The ex-Singapore leader launched his new book, “My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey (我一生的挑戰，新加坡雙語之路),” Monday, in which Lee depicts the struggles and challenges he faced when bilingualism was first mandated in Singapore and how it became a nation with a diverse and international population today. The book also details meetings Lee conducted with Taiwan and Chinese leaders.

In the book, Lee said if it wasn't for his Mandarin skills, he would not have developed such a close relationship with Taiwan's 6th and 7th-term President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), son of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石). Mandarin also enabled Singaporean troops to receive training in Taiwan.

Of particular note, Lee described in his book a meeting that took place with then-Chinese Communist Party Secretary-General Jiang in October 1994, during which he and Jiang discussed the issue of Taiwan.

That May, Taiwanese President Lee Tung-hui had visited Singapore for a short trip and asked that Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟) relay a suggestion to Jiang. Lee's suggestion was to erect a tri-national shipping business between Taiwan, Singapore and China. The company would also be responsible for conducting cross-strait trade, according to Lee.

Jiang rejected the idea, forcing Goh and the Singapore leader to draft a new proposal. By September, 1994, when the two Lees met again, the Taiwan president accepted the proposal.

When the Singaporean officials went to China to discuss the plans with Jiang in October, the Communist Party leader brought up a Japanese interview Lee Tung-hui gave back in April.

In the interview, Lee compared himself to the biblical Moses, leading his people in an exodus from Egypt and into the Promised Land. The comments reportedly incensed Jiang so much he went off on a rambling tirade.

Lee Kuan Yew said that Singapore's close relationship with China in the past served the role of a middleman with Europe and the U.S. Now that China has increased its ties and risen in influence, it no longer needs Singapore as a middleman, Lee wrote.

Lee Tung-hui's 1994 “Moses” interview with Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, during which he promoted Taiwan's separation from China and called the Kuomintang an alien regime, was a signpost event that frosted the relationship between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.