Results tagged “wenjiabao”

• China's class ceiling [LA Times] "China is the only ancient civilization in human history to have reemerged as a major force in the world. And Chinese are rightly proud of this. So why rock the boat? It is better to be ruled by boring technocrats like Hu who will keep things nice and steady. This is not the story one might hear from unemployed workers in the rust belts of northeastern China, or from rioting farmers in Guangdong province who have been pushed off the land by greedy developers working in tandem with corrupt party officials. Nor is this view necessarily shared by the brave lawyers willing to take on some of those corrupt officials, or intellectual dissidents who still get arrested for arguing that Chinese should be entitled to basic democratic rights. But it is the common line taken by people who benefit most from the current wave of fun, fashion and prosperity — the new urban elite, some of whom are pampered children of Communist Party bosses."
• What If China Had a Second Political Party Tomorrow? [The New Yorker] "On the prospects for multi-party democracy: If you had a second party alternative in China now, I think it would be an anti-foreign party. What else could you see as a platform to challenge the Communist Party, but to oppose the foreigners who are “buying up Chinese resources”?… There has to be a period of generally unfolding democracy. Not bang, all at once. And I think that will happen. I think it’s happening much too slowly."
• Editorial Dispute Threatens Caijing, a Chinese Magazine [NYTimes] "The owners of the magazine have recently come under pressure from some within the government to tone down or drastically alter Caijing’s aggressive journalism, people at the magazine say. Caijing’s managers have told staff members that they have been fighting to maintain the magazine’s editorial integrity. Caijing’s managers have been seeking to create a more independent publication by changing the magazine’s shareholding structure, seeking outside investors and pressing the owners to allow some employees to own a stake in the magazine. They also want a larger share of the magazine’s profits to be invested in new operations, including an English-language Web site."

A picture says a thousand diplomatic niceties. Apparently, so did Wen Jiabao when he met with Henry Kissinger yesterday for the inaugural China-US Track Two High Level Dialogue in Beijing. We're not sure what that means either, but here's a sound bite for you:

• Jet Li returns to Chinese film after 3 US movies [AP] "Jet Li is returning to Chinese film with a reportedly non-kung fu movie after three Hollywood productions, a publicist said Tuesday. Li is due to start shooting the movie — tentatively called "Ocean Paradise" in Chinese — Edko Film publicist Zhang Hongyan told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. The film, due to be released next year, will be directed by a newcomer, Zhang said, declining to give further detail before the official announcement at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday."
• China Premier Rejects 'Blindly Optimistic' View of Economy [WSJ] "China's Premier Wen Jiabao expressed caution about the country's economic recovery, saying the effects of some short-term policies may fade while longer-term policies will take time to have an impact. Ending a three-day visit to the eastern province of Zhejiang, Mr. Wen warned against being "blindly optimistic," according to a statement by the State Council."
• China Mobile chief pushes e-book potential [BusinessWeek] "China Mobile Ltd., the world's largest mobile carrier, is pushing e-reading, seeing it as its next big mobile business, the company's chief executive has said. Wang Jianzhou, also China Mobile's chairman, called e-reading a "new culture" and said he expects such services to grow in China because of the rising popularity of smart phones, which can download content faster than conventional cell phones."

Martin Jahnke, the man who threw a shoe at Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has now been cleared of any offense. Prosecutors had tried to get Jahnke charged for "using words and behavior likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress," and presented evidence from three Chinese students at the lecture (probably fenqing), police and the security staff. But the court found what was presented insufficient and declared Jahnke not guilty. While we didn't really buy that it was a "legitimate protest," as Jahnke had stated - honestly, yelling stuff and throwing a shoe? Please. - we're glad the courts were sensible in this decision. The judge warned Jahnke that the verdict should not be viewed as the court condoning his misbehavior and told him to conduct himself better in the future. Source: Telegraph UK

The protester who threw a shoe at Premier Wen Jiabao at Cambridge University in February is now actually on trial for "using words and behavior likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress" to Wen and others.

Seems like we may be looking forward to a visit from China's good buddy, Kim Jong-Il, during the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party. The Great Leader has allegedly accepted an invitation from Premier Wen Jiabao to join in on the fun. Previously, Wen was quoted telling North Korean officials that “We will ardently welcome Comrade Kim Jong-Il and senior officials of the Korean party and government to visit China at a convenient time.” Source: Channel News Asia

• Wen says Beijing ready to hold talks with Taiwan [The Associated Press] "China's Premier Wen Jiabao says Beijing is ready to hold talks with Taiwan on political and military issues aimed at ending hostility with the rival island. In a work report he delivered Thursday at the opening of the annual session of parliament, Wen cheered a significant improvement in ties and a major reduction in tensions over the past year with Taiwan."
• In Crisis, China Vows Openness [Washington Post] "In his first online chat with China's 1.3 billion citizens this weekend, Premier Wen Jiabao tried to charm his audience... It was almost as if Wen were campaigning for reelection, an effort unnecessary in China, where the Communist Party enjoys a monopoly on political power. But as the top legislative body, the National People's Congress, holds its annual meeting Thursday in Beijing, China's leaders acknowledge that these are extraordinary times. "
• Highlights of Premier Wen's gov't work report [Xinhua] "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to deliver a report on the work of his cabinet at the opening meeting of the annual full session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, scheduled to start in the Great Hall of the People at 9 a.m. Thursday."

• Morgan Stanley’s Chinese Land Scandal [NYTimes] "Last month, with property prices here and elsewhere in free fall, the bank dropped a bombshell: in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, it said it had fired an executive in its China real estate division after uncovering evidence that he might have violated the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars American business people from bribing foreign officials."
• U.S. Pavilion at Shanghai Expo to break ground on schedule [Xinhua] "Despite fund raising problems, officials of the U.S. Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 say they are confident they will break ground to build a national pavilion on schedule this April."
• Premier Wen urges journalists to write "true, accurate" stories [Xinhua] "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday urged journalists to write 'true and accurate' news stories because it is a fundamental principle and a lifeline for the media. Wen told a group of Xinhua News Agency staff that Xinhua should take the lead in doing so and carry on its tradition of reporting news accurately, effectively and timely."

Looks like it's not just the Yunnan government that's recognized the power of the internet. Today, Premier Wen Jia Bao went online to talk to netizens in a chat jointly hosted by Xinhua and the central government. According to Xinhua, Grandpa Wen began internetting with the country at 3pm and responded to questions about the financial crisis, unemployed migrant workers, Sino-U.S. Relations and - surprisingly - free speech.

Oops! It looks like somebody at Downing Street is about to get fired. At a trade agreement signing ceremony between Premier Wen Jiabao, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.K. Trade Secretary Lord Mandelson, the Union Jack was flown upside down.

One of the biggest threats to stability China could face is already starting to happen: millions of people, most of them migrant workers, are unemployed. Chen Xiwen, the vice head of the Central Finance and Economic Leading Group, released several disturbing figures on Monday (helpfully translated by Victor Shih):

A human rights protestor, described as a Western-looking man with dark hair and in his early twenties, has been detained by UK police after he threw his shoe at Prime Minister Wen Jiabao while he was delivering a speech at Cambridge University. According to The Times, the young man blew a whistle as Premier Wen was about to wrap up his speech, shouting:

“How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”

“Stand up and protest, you're not challenging him.”

Chinese premier leaves Beijing for European tour [Xinhua]

Jimmy Carter, the former US president who formalised ties with China 30 years ago, meets Premier Wen Jiabao (温家宝) in the same room where he first met the late Deng Xiaopeng (邓小平). Carter said he visited China as a young man when he was in the navy and always thought of his life and destiny as being "very close to China". Accompanying Carter were other leading former US officials, including former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

On Sept 26, in Tianjin at the World Economic Forum, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson drank a glass of milk (click to see video) in front of the media to show his support for the Chinese dairy industry and said:

The Europeans will continue to expect the highest standards, just as Chinese consumers are demanding the same…. But in the meantime I shall continue drinking my own favorite, er, milk, er, product, er, er, which I enjoy and which does not make me nervous.

Wen said he was very moved when he saw in television European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson drinking a cup of Chinese milk on Friday to show his trust in China-made products. “It's because he not only sees the present, but the future as well,” Wen said.

"Over the past few days, Peter Mandelson has been experiencing some kidney pain," a spokesman said.

Continue reading "EU Trade Commissioner UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson drinks Chinese milk, then gets diagnosed with kidney stone 9 days later"

• Kongzhong has released its role playing game "Tian Jie Online" on China Mobile's Mobile Online Game Platform, the first of three mobile online games to be released on China Mobile's new game platform.
• Shanghai doesn't seem the ideal place to buy a MP4 Player, according to a report from Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce, 75 percent of MP4 Players on sale are substandard, with inadequate capacity and abnormal radiation leaks.
• Chinese e-trading site Taobao have blocked the search engines of Baidu, Google and Yahoo. According to the site, this move is to protect its customers from fraud. Some online merchants optimize their general search results pages through technical and commercial methods, with the aim of gaining higher rankings and attract consumers to click their links and pages. Taobao hopes to curb this by blocking the search engines.

China's Premier today urged the country's men's basketball team to "win honor for the motherland." But mostly we just wanted an excuse to run this photo of 65-year-old Wen's proper form — and, yes, we are talking about his decision to don dark socks with black dress shoes.

Photo courtesy of China Daily.

The previously bustling city of Mianyang (绵阳), Sichuan's second largest city and an important military and nuclear base with a population of 5.7 million, is now nothing but a ghost town. As of June 5, Mianyang had a death toll of 21,963. Another 167,742 were injured, and 8,743 people missing. The remaining residents have been evacuated as the nearby Tangjiashan quake lake threatens to burst anytime soon. Meanwhile, prime minister Wen Jiabao (温家宝) continues to impress by flying down to the dangerously swollen lake for a third time, and showing he means business with his "zero casualty" target. Engineers are working round the clock to drain the lake.

Following a hot tip from the New York Times we were able to find Facebook's newest member, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (温家宝). Initially Shanghaiist was excited about the prospect of being friends with 'Grandpa,' but then we realized he had more friends (13,280 supporters as of now) than all of the contributors combined and more supporters than the Shanghaiist fan page. Just leave it to the older generations to make it uncool for everyone else.

"Any trivial matter multiplied by 1.3 billion will become a big problem;
Any astronomical figure divided by 1.3 billion will become a tiny number."
一个很小的问题，乘以13亿，都会变成一个大问题；一个很大的总量，除以13亿，都会变成一个小数目。

Melissa Chan of Al-Jazeera is one of several foreign correspondents currently in Sichuan Province and files this story from Juyuan Middle School at Dujiangyan (都江堰) where Premier Wen Jiabao was earlier.