Having served in several senior government positions, Chen Deming is the new face behind the "Made-in-China" shove. The recently appointed vice minister of commerce is currently entrusted to oversee China's trade affairs, both internal and external. This came about after former Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai was appointed as Party chief of Chongqing, the country's largest municipality, in early December.

Chen made his debut as a new trade chief at China's high-profile economic dialogues with Japan and the United States, on December 1 and December 12-13, respectively. Before that, he was first vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the central-level economic planning body, in charge of energy affairs and overall economic restructuring.

However, what may better testify to Chen's competence in the area of trade is his reputation as an outstanding negotiator, which he earned during his tenure as mayor of Suzhou, one of China's fastest growing cities in coastal Jiangsu Province.

In the late 1990s, China's largest intergovernmental project, the Sino-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, was at risk of failure as the Singaporean Government moved to withdraw due to heavy financial losses. Chen eventually helped revive the cooperation agreement after a yearlong negotiation with Singaporean representatives. The efforts have paid off. Up to 2006, contractual foreign investment in the park had reached $26.9 billion. Local gross domestic product stood at 68 billion yuan (nearly $8.95 billion) in the year; and foreign trade volume, $50 billion.

In May 2002, Chen was transferred to less developed Shaanxi Province in northwest China, where he had successively served as vice governor and governor until he was given the NDRC post in June 2006.

As China is expected to overtake Germany as the world's second largest trader this year and there are growing disputes over the prices and quality of Chinese exports, foreign trade has become a dominant issue on the government's economic agenda. Chen's most urgent challenges will include maintaining the growth momentum of exports and foreign direct investment to China against the backdrop a global slowdown caused by the U.S. subprime loan crisis, optimizing China's export structure and further integrating domestic and foreign trade.

"Connotations of opening up are always open to all things new in terms of idea, policy and management of capital and labor resources."

Chen Deming

"Chen [Deming] is known for his extraordinary global vision."

Yazhou Zhoukan, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language weekly magazine on international affairs

"Using China as a target may provoke a backlash, so politicians need to be careful."

Cheng Li, professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and Co-chairman of the research organ of the Committee of 100, a New York-based nonpartisan group of Chinese Americans, citing a recent poll by the committee that indicates a majority of Americans, 52 percent, say they have a positive view of China

"Expressing my readiness to stand as a candidate in the presidential election, I ask him (Putin) to agree to head the government of Russia after the election of the new president."

Kremlin-backed presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev, mapping out a route for outgoing President Vladimir Putin to retain influence in Russian politics during a televised address on December 11

"It is a major event and good news for Africa to have new players entering in the playground."

Javier Santiso, chief development economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, saying that increased interest in Africa by emerging economies such as China and India is good news for the continent, when he attended the EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on December 7-8

"Our species is not static."

Henry C. Harpending, an anthropologist at the University of Utah, announcing results of a study that find residents of various continents becoming increasingly different from one another. The conclusion conflicts a previous belief that a future Earth would be populated by a blend of all races into a common human form

"Recent developments, including the deterioration in financial market conditions, have increased the uncertainty surrounding the outlook for economic growth and inflation."

The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, justifying its December 11 decision to cut the benchmark federal fund rate by a quarter percentage point in a statement