A day after meeting with President George W. Bush, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao spoke to 800 attendees at Harvard Business School about his country's continuing economic and political reforms, and his pledge of friendship with the United States.
His central message: China recognizes that it is at a critical stage of its development, and is committed to becoming a vital business partner and a democratic force for peace.
"China's development is blessed with a rare period of strategic opportunities. And if we don't grasp it, it will slip away," said Wen, sixty-one. "We are determined to secure a peaceful international environment and a stable domestic environment in which to concentrate on our own development, and with it help promote world peace and development."
The premier's visit on December 10 comes as China is again at the center of the world stage. The previous day, Wen met with Bush over matters that included China's deteriorating relations with Taiwan and the at least $100 billion trade deficit the United States faces with China.
In his remarks at HBS, Wen acknowledged the trade imbalance, which has received criticism from U.S. labor and business organizations for costing American jobs and last month led to the U.S. slapping limits on some Chinese textile imports and duties on some televisions.
"We have to recognize the fact that in the trade relationship the United States does run a quite significant deficit with China," Wen acknowledged. But, he added, U.S. exports to China grew 15 percent last year and 26 percent in 2003.
Chinese purchases increasing
An upcoming Chinese trade mission to the U.S. will result in the purchase of cotton, wheat, and soybeans, part of $10.7 billion in contracts China is signing for U.S. products. Wen recounted that China has just bought planes from Boeing for $1.7 billion and jet engines from General Electric totaling $3 billion.
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"To cut back China's exports to the U.S. market is not a good solution," he said. "The better solution is for the U.S. to increase its exports to China."
A high-level team will look at the trade conflict, Wen added, whose membership will include China's Vice-Premier Wu Yi, U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.
In prepared remarks titled "Turning Your Eyes to China," Wen discussed the cultural, geographic, and social developments that have shaped the 5,000-year-old civilization and made it today the largest developing country in the world. He made frequent references to both great Eastern and Western thinkers and writers including Chen Banjao, Ji Xianlin, Voltaire, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dr. John King Fairbank, and Herman Melville.
The last twenty-five years in Chinaa time when China has moved from a centrally planned economy to one more market drivenhas produced huge transformations, Wen said. For example, Chinese citizens are now free to travel as they like, pursue the careers of their choice, seek information, and practice freedom of religion.
"There's no question that to develop democracythe objective of our endeavorall our efforts will be aimed at building China into a prosperous, democratic, civilized, and modern country," the premier said.
He also discussed the responsibility of being the government leader for a population of 1.3 billion people. "Any small individual problem multiplied by 1.3 billion becomes a big, big problem. And any considerable amount of financial and material resources, divided by 1.3 billion, becomes a very low per capita level. This is a reality the Chinese leaders have to keep firmly in mind at all times."
Protestors rise
Audience members appeared to enjoy Wen's sense of humor, deep reverence for China's heritage, and his insistence on taking questions directly from the floor instead of answering pre-screened written questions.
His remarks were interrupted briefly by a protestor shouting, "We will never stop fighting. Free Tibet!" Several people stood in silent protest wearing shirts supporting independence for Tibet and Taiwan.
There's no question that to develop democracy all our efforts will be aimed at building China into a prosperous, democratic, civilized, and modern country. |
Wen Jiabao |
"Please allow me to continue my speech," Wen said. "Ladies and gentlemen, I will not be disrupted because I am deeply convinced that the 300 million American people do have friendly feelings towards the Chinese people. And I'm deeply convinced that the development and improvement of China-U.S. relations will not only serve the interest of our two peoples but it is also conducive to peace and stability in the world."
In other remarks Wen addressed:
Human rights. "I am not suggesting that China's human rights situation is impeccable," he said. But the country's last twenty-five years of economic reform "is exactly aimed at promoting human rights in China." Quoting Franklin Roosevelt, Wen said, "True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence, and necessitous men are not free men."
Direct elections. Wen was also asked whether China's political reforms would ultimately increase the level of direct elections. Wen said such elections already take place for many officials in the country's 680,000 villages, but education levels must rise before direct elections for higher-level positions can happen.
Modernization. China's three-step strategy towards modernization says that by 2020, China will complete building of a "comfortable society" and that by 2049 China will have reached the level of a "medium-developed" country.
Wen came to HBS on December 10 at the invitation of Harvard President Lawrence Summers, the Harvard Asia Center, and the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. He spoke in the business school's Burden Auditorium.
In opening remarks, Summers said the dramatic developments on the Asian continent over the last quarter century would be the top story for historians recording our era. "This is surely a moment of promise, of risk, and of opportunity in China," Summers said.