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Government Documents
Government Documents
UPDATED: February 24, 2009 NO. 8 FEB. 26, 2009
Premier Wen Jiabao Talks to the Financial Times
February 1, 2009
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We are having discussions about how to make rational and effective use of foreign exchange reserves to serve the purpose of economic development in China. Last year, we issued 1.5 trillion yuan of government bonds in purchasing $200 billion of foreign exchange reserves to inject capital into the China Investment Corp.

Foreign exchange must be spent overseas, and it will be spent mainly on foreign trade and investment. Therefore, we want to use foreign exchange reserves to buy the much-needed equipment and technologies. That is quite a technical issue.

The world expects so much from China. China is taking very important steps to increase research and technology on renewable energy. Later this year, there will be a summit in Copenhagen on climate change. Is China ready to sign a treaty to cap carbon emissions?

I had a thorough discussion about this issue with President Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission in Brussels on January 30. The Chinese position on this issue is as follows.

First, China supports the Copenhagen Conference. We support all measures that are playing their roles in meeting the challenge of climate change and the development of a green economy. We hold that developing a green economy is probably another area in the economy as we meet the international financial crisis.

Second, the Chinese Government gives top priority to meeting the challenge of climate change. We have established a national leading group on tackling climate change. I am head of the group.

We have formulated a national program on coping with climate change. It is not only the first program of its kind for China, but also the first one of its kind among all developing countries.

In China's 11th Five-Year Plan, we have set ourselves obligatory targets in saving energy and reducing pollution. The target requires that we must reduce the per unit GDP energy consumption by 4 percent every year, and in total by 20 percent in five years.

We failed to meet the targets in the first two years of the five-year period (2006-10), and we succeeded in meeting the target in 2008. We will continue to make efforts on this front and set targets for ourselves. I think this can be seen as a way that China is holding itself accountable to the relevant targets.

Third, it is difficult for China to undertake quantified emission reduction quotas at the Copenhagen Conference, because China is still at an early stage of development. Europe started its industrialization several hundred years ago, but for China, industrialization has been done for only dozens of years.

China has a 1.3 billion population, and in terms of per-capita greenhouse gas emission, we are certainly not the biggest one. But we are still very active and positive about our cooperation with Europe, in terms of saving energy, reducing pollution, developing a low carbon economy, and developing those environmentally friendly technologies.

Premier Wen, I've been told if I ask a political question, I have to be very careful.

Ask any question you want.

Looking to the future, could you imagine direct elections of deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC), say, in 10 years?

Well, actually, I think economic life and political life are not separable from each other. Let me address this political question from an economic perspective. We are undertaking both economic restructuring and political restructuring, and both are very important.

Without successful political restructuring, one cannot ensure success in our economic restructuring. The goal in our political restructuring endeavor is to promote socialist democracy, and better ensure people's rights to democratic election, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic supervision.

The society that we desire is one of equity and justice and one in which people can achieve all-round development in a free and equal environment. That is also why I like Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments very much.

In 1776, Smith wrote Wealth of the Nations. And in the same historical period, he wrote Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith made excellent arguments in his Theory of Moral Sentiments. He said in the book to the effect that if fruits of a society's economic development cannot be shared by all, it is morally unsound and risky, as it is bound to jeopardize social stability. If the wealth of a society is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, then this is against the popular will, and the society is bound to be unstable.

I have always believed that justice and equity are the primary virtue in the socialist system. In the eyes of some Western people, it seems that Chinese are afraid of democracy or elections. Actually, this is not true.

As I told the press during the press conference of the NPC session last year, I said that only when people trust you, will they support you in your office. Now we have direct elections at village level and also direct elections of deputies to people's congresses at township level. At the same time, I have always believed that if the people are capable to run village affairs well, they are capable to run township and county affairs and then run provincial affairs. In this entire process, we should take a step-by-step approach in light of China's own conditions and develop a democracy with Chinese characteristics.

So there's a bit more room for democracy and a bit more room for dissent as part of a democracy?

Well, I don't think a government should feel afraid of its own people. I think it should create opportunities for the people to better hold the government accountable.

Premier Wen, I realize we're running short of time. I had my own quote from Theory of Moral Sentiments.

Well, I think for quite some time this book has not attracted due attention or attention that it deserves. I think it is as important as The Wealth of Nations. He made a reference to the invisible hand only on two occasions in these books. One, he refers to the market, and the other, he talks about the morality. And please go ahead with your quote.

"How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others and render their happiness necessary to it, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it."

I think this is very well said.

Thank you very much for agreeing to talk to the Financial Times. It's been very enlightening.

Thank you.

(Source: ft.com)

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