Mr Lee's gripe is that the authorities are developing a rival economic zone, the Suzhou New District, to the west of the town.

ECONOMIST: The trouble with Singapore��s clone

In other words, it was well within the strike zone the Republicans institutionalized in 1988 when they turned the GOP's amiable hitman Lee Atwater loose with his "Willie Horton" ad against Michael Dukakis.

CNN: When did the GOP become the whiners?