Sunday, February 1, 2009
The China Post news staff
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made a rare appearance this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and gave the United States a polite lecture on economics.It may sound strange for a new proselyte of capitalism to tell the world's largest capitalist country how to manage its economy, but most in the audience listened and many even agreed.
What Wen said to the world's top business CEOs and government leaders was just common sense which was thrown out of the window by greedy American bankers and laissez-faire officials. "The global financial crisis was attributable to inappropriate macroeconomic policies of some economies and their unsustainable development model characterized by prolonged low savings and high consumption, and blind pursuit of profit," he said.
Although Wen did not blame the U.S. explicitly for the crisis, his reference was unmistakable. Like others in the audience China is a victim of the crisis; its gross domestic product growth shrank by 3% last year to 10% from 13% in 2007. China's fourth quarter GDP growth dropped to 6.5%, a new low in more than a decade, due to slumping exports. Despite the crisis, Wen was confident China's GDP would grow by the target 8% in 2009. The country will spend US$586 billion in 2009 and 2010 on infrastructure and social programs to create jobs and to play a constructive role in helping to revive the global economy, he said.
Wen's mild criticism of the U.S. could be taken as Beijing's response to Washington's recent accusation that it is manipulating its currency. Take note, President Obama. It's a shot across the bow.
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