It’s not just Americans worried about the stability of the U.S. banking system. China’s “a little bit worried,” too. So says Premier Wen Jiabao.
“We have loaned a huge amount of money to the United States,” Premier Wen said at his annual meeting with the media Friday.
“Of course, we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried, and I’d like through you (Western journalists) to call on the United States to keep its word and stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets."
China is the largest creditor to the United States, and Wen’s gentle reminder is that China has a lot of skin in the game when it comes to global economic recovery.
I was in the back of the third-floor salon in the Great Hall of the People where the meeting is always held, standing because there were not enough chairs.
I didn’t bother to raise my hand because after nearly six years here I realize that all the questions are pre-arranged by the Foreign Ministry ahead of time. It isn’t a press conference in any normal sense of the word. I would describe it as a session where the premier talks on themes raised by journalists and coordinated through the government. One news agency employee told me they’d been approached about asking a question but submitted a question deemed to general for the satisfaction of the ministry. After all, the news conference is televised to the entire nation and one would not want to be embarrassed by an unexpected question
I came back to the office grumbling that there had been hardly anything worth reporting out of the news conference. My Chinese news assistant asked what question I would have asked had I been given the chance.
I had no chance so I hadn’t given it much thought. There are so many topics, some of them ponderous, like how would China reform the U.N. Security Council to make it more equitable? And what kind of security arrangement would China like to see in Northeast Asia?
But sometimes I prefer simple questions. How about: Will China feel relieved when the Dalai Lama dies? Or one off-the-wall issue that many Chinese care about: After the glorious success of China’s athletes at the Olympics, what will it take for the nation to build a successful professional soccer league free of corruption and up to standards that can compete at global levels? (China’s greatness in other sports is matched by its weakness in soccer, and this is a point of intense interest because soccer is popular here.)
So now it’s your turn. What would you ask the premier?
Why do you politburo guys all dye your hair unnaturally black?
Posted by: Tuur | March 13, 2009 at 05:55 AM
Is Wen going to take up Taiwan's invitation to visit?
Posted by: Pan | March 13, 2009 at 07:55 AM
Does Premier Wen have plan to castrate the soccer players so that they spend more time focusing on the other ball?
Posted by: jeff | March 13, 2009 at 09:57 AM
When is China going to replace the US as the world police ?
When will the RMB be declared the global currency of trade ?
Why isn't China replacing US Treasury paper with those from other nations as main investment vehicle ?
Posted by: Bill | March 13, 2009 at 11:58 AM
jeff... Nice question... It reminded me of a joke. When that German dude threw shoe at the Premier, some bloggers suggested that Chinese shall throw shoes at Merkel, one of them suggested we shall use the shoes of Chinese soccer team. Well, for God's sake don't, we just want to protest or have some fun, but we don't want to get Merkel killed.
As of some serious problem, on Yahoo news, go there an browse news on China, (the following link)http://news.yahoo.com/topics/china,
Well, the top 4 stories are on this topic . 3 from Associate Press and 1 of them from AFP. 3 of the 4 topics are about Tibet and the other one is "China's premier vows to save economy, defend Tibet". Again, for every one's sake, this interview is about economy, and Tibet is not even as important, Are those people are deaf or just s****.
Posted by: Sparkle | March 13, 2009 at 02:19 PM
Sparkle
Tibetan issue is not going to go away anytime soon. Many people make a living depending on "Tibet controversy". e.g. Frenchman Sarkozy got many contracts from Chinese government by raising Tibet issue. He overplayed it this time. Feel really bad for His Holiness. Given the Chinese culture, he could be a very well respected religious spiritual elder. But he acted like an holy sh*t idiot.
Posted by: jeff | March 13, 2009 at 03:58 PM
The RMB is appreciating against the US dollar, but why are eggs, pork, vegetables among other things in the local market getting more and more expensive?
Posted by: LC | March 13, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Why doesn't China sell more of her US treasury debt holdings since the US$ is so high at this time but will not be for very long?
Why not use the proceeds to take up equity stakes in global resource companies friendly to China?
Why not use the global economic slow-down to retool China for the next round of economic upswing? Build up skills inventory, infrastructure, banking systems, military readiness, clean up pollution, etc.
Posted by: Lee | March 15, 2009 at 12:33 PM
When would ccp allow a multiple-party ruling democracy or any forms of checks and balances, if not what would you like to account for the picture taken in 1989, in which you were standing with former chairmen Zhao Ziyang on the tiananmen square reassuring chinese students who were looking for democracy and got cracked down in bloodbath?
Posted by: tank man | March 15, 2009 at 11:03 PM
China is still reliant on our purchases from them, so as we go economically, so shall they.
Posted by: Tari | March 16, 2009 at 11:43 AM
When will China fully apologise for The Tiananmen Square massacre and numerous other human rights abuses and betrayal? When will China give people freedom of expression?
Posted by: Sam M | March 16, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Oh my . . . Apologise for Tiananmen Square? That's not really a question now is it? It's really just an insult. Actually, the question I would like to have answered is why, when they are obviously losing a PR war (e.g. the Dalai Lama) do they refuse to change their approach? They had a PR success in the face of the Sichuan earthquake disaster, why don't they learn from their successes?
Posted by: Peter | March 17, 2009 at 12:09 AM
I would ask him if he is contact with George W. Bush and if so how can either of them sleep at night knowing they are torturers. Do they compare notes on waterboarding? When will China no longer call itself a "developing country" and when will they count as "developed"? What about the supposed investigation of the shoddy construction of the schools in Sichuan that fell apart in the earthquake?
Posted by: johnny justice | March 17, 2009 at 01:49 AM
@tank man: Let me give you my respond. To be frank, I didnt feel regretful for our students' demonstration but I did feel it verylucky that that went to failure in the end for sure, which comes to my mind after thinking that over for the past 20 years. We would be sinners to our country if, just if, that succeeded. And coz of the failure, to me, China, my country was and is GREAT!
Posted by: PlanetJourney | March 17, 2009 at 06:59 AM
« China goes Miami Vice | Main | Amusing, mystifying labels in China »
What would you ask the premier?
WenJB It’s not just Americans worried about the stability of the U.S. banking system. China’s “a little bit worried,” too. So says Premier Wen Jiabao.
“We have loaned a huge amount of money to the United States,” Premier Wen said at his annual meeting with the media Friday.
“Of course, we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried, and I’d like through you (Western journalists) to call on the United States to keep its word and stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets."
China is the largest creditor to the United States, and Wen’s gentle reminder is that China has a lot of skin in the game when it comes to global economic recovery.
I was in the back of the third-floor salon in the Great Hall of the People where the meeting is always held, standing because there were not enough chairs.
I didn’t bother to raise my hand because after nearly six years here I realize that all the questions are pre-arranged by the Foreign Ministry ahead of time. It isn’t a press conference in any normal sense of the word. I would describe it as a session where the premier talks on themes raised by journalists and coordinated through the government. One news agency employee told me they’d been approached about asking a question but submitted a question deemed to general for the satisfaction of the ministry. After all, the news conference is televised to the entire nation and one would not want to be embarrassed by an unexpected question
I came back to the office grumbling that there had been hardly anything worth reporting out of the news conference. My Chinese news assistant asked what question I would have asked had I been given the chance.
I had no chance so I hadn’t given it much thought. There are so many topics, some of them ponderous, like how would China reform the U.N. Security Council to make it more equitable? And what kind of security arrangement would China like to see in Northeast Asia?
But sometimes I prefer simple questions. How about: Will China feel relieved when the Dalai Lama dies? Or one off-the-wall issue that many Chinese care about: After the glorious success of China’s athletes at the Olympics, what will it take for the nation to build a successful professional soccer league free of corruption and up to standards that can compete at global levels? (China’s greatness in other sports is matched by its weakness in soccer, and this is a point of intense interest because soccer is popular here.)
So now it’s your turn. What would you ask the premier?
March 13, 2009 | Permalink
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Why do you politburo guys all dye your hair unnaturally black?
Posted by: Tuur | March 13, 2009 at 05:55 AM
Is Wen going to take up Taiwan's invitation to visit?
Posted by: Pan | March 13, 2009 at 07:55 AM
Does Premier Wen have plan to castrate the soccer players so that they spend more time focusing on the other ball?
Posted by: jeff | March 13, 2009 at 09:57 AM
When is China going to replace the US as the world police ?
When will the RMB be declared the global currency of trade ?
Why isn't China replacing US Treasury paper with those from other nations as main investment vehicle ?
Posted by: Bill | March 13, 2009 at 11:58 AM
jeff... Nice question... It reminded me of a joke. When that German dude threw shoe at the Premier, some bloggers suggested that Chinese shall throw shoes at Merkel, one of them suggested we shall use the shoes of Chinese soccer team. Well, for God's sake don't, we just want to protest or have some fun, but we don't want to get Merkel killed.
As of some serious problem, on Yahoo news, go there an browse news on China, (the following link)http://news.yahoo.com/topics/china,
Well, the top 4 stories are on this topic . 3 from Associate Press and 1 of them from AFP. 3 of the 4 topics are about Tibet and the other one is "China's premier vows to save economy, defend Tibet". Again, for every one's sake, this interview is about economy, and Tibet is not even as important, Are those people are deaf or just s****.
Posted by: Sparkle | March 13, 2009 at 02:19 PM
Sparkle
Tibetan issue is not going to go away anytime soon. Many people make a living depending on "Tibet controversy". e.g. Frenchman Sarkozy got many contracts from Chinese government by raising Tibet issue. He overplayed it this time. Feel really bad for His Holiness. Given the Chinese culture, he could be a very well respected religious spiritual elder. But he acted like an holy sh*t idiot.
Posted by: jeff | March 13, 2009 at 03:58 PM
The RMB is appreciating against the US dollar, but why are eggs, pork, vegetables among other things in the local market getting more and more expensive?
Posted by: LC | March 13, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Why doesn't China sell more of her US treasury debt holdings since the US$ is so high at this time but will not be for very long?
Why not use the proceeds to take up equity stakes in global resource companies friendly to China?
Why not use the global economic slow-down to retool China for the next round of economic upswing? Build up skills inventory, infrastructure, banking systems, military readiness, clean up pollution, etc.
Posted by: Lee | March 15, 2009 at 12:33 PM
When would ccp allow a multiple-party ruling democracy or any forms of checks and balances, if not what would you like to account for the picture taken in 1989, in which you were standing with former chairmen Zhao Ziyang on the tiananmen square reassuring chinese students who were looking for democracy and got cracked down in bloodbath?
Posted by: tank man | March 15, 2009 at 11:03 PM
China is still reliant on our purchases from them, so as we go economically, so shall they.
Posted by: Tari | March 16, 2009 at 11:43 AM
When will China fully apologise for The Tiananmen Square massacre and numerous other human rights abuses and betrayal? When will China give people freedom of expression?
Posted by: Sam M | March 16, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Oh my . . . Apologise for Tiananmen Square? That's not really a question now is it? It's really just an insult. Actually, the question I would like to have answered is why, when they are obviously losing a PR war (e.g. the Dalai Lama) do they refuse to change their approach? They had a PR success in the face of the Sichuan earthquake disaster, why don't they learn from their successes?
Posted by: Peter | March 17, 2009 at 12:09 AM
Because it depends on the audience. :P Seeing how 99% of China hates the DL's guts, Of course they won't bother changing tactics. The Chinese gov't is often seen by its own people as being too soft in front of international pressure. Last year people were pissed as to why the crackdown wasn't HARSHER, and people were generally unhappy when the gov't said they will talk to the Dharamsala group. Obviously staying on the good side of 1.3 billion Chinese is more important than staying on the good side of the DL and useless NGOs.
Posted by: HJG | March 17, 2009 at 08:17 PM
HJG - Interesting, I was not aware that the majority Han thought the gov't was soft on the DL. I do find it rather naive the way so many commentors want to measure China by US/western standards and ideals that we don't always live up to so well and have nothing to do with Chinese history/culture. You can bet they watch us closely. Given the success of Bush, why would they ever think democracy is a good idea? Given the freedom of speech allowed wing-nuts on both sides of the political spectrum, why would they embrace freedom of the press? These things are part of American culture, not Chinese culture. I spent 3 weeks there and loved it. I found the people warm and friendly. Of course they have problems big time. But it's also a vibrant and exciting place. I'm studying Mandarin. People should try and learn a bit more about China before they are so quick to criticize.
Posted by: Peter | March 20, 2009 at 01:19 AM
When will the Politburo clean up the highly inefficient, overly-corrupt, archaic system of government so that the billion or so people living in poverty can have a better life?
Posted by: James Filbird | April 03, 2009 at 08:08 AM