Reuters
EXCLUSIVE-FULL TEXT-Interview with China's Premier Wen Jiabao
Wednesday April 28, 9:03 am ET
BEIJING, April 28 (Reuters) - The following is the full text of Premier Wen Jiabao's exclusive interview with Reuters Editor in Chief Geert Linnebank on Wednesday. Wen, on the eve of a trip to Europe, began with brief opening remarks.
OPENING REMARKS
"First I would like to relay through Reuters my sincere regards to the people of Europe and the people of Britain. I will speak a bit about the Euro-Asian continent. The Euro-Asian continent is the world's biggest. It is called the Euro-Asian land mass. A Greek myth has it that the Euro-Asian continent is the chest of the Earth, and in fact it has seen many many mighty and magnificent historical epics. This continent is also the place which enjoys the best exchanges between East and West. Because of this, I want to bring up China's and Asia's relationship with Europe.
"Thanks to years of efforts, China and Europe have already identified a strategic goal for the development of bilateral relations.
"And this goal was actually set at the sixth summit meeting between China and the European Union (News - Websites) held last year, namely to build a comprehensive and strategic partnership.
"I think this is of great significance.
"By comprehensive, I mean that this is a multi-tier and all-around relationship covering a wide range of areas. And this relationship not only includes political and cultural relations, but also includes economic and technological relations. It includes not only bilateral relations but also multilateral ones. It includes ties of an official nature but also our people-to-people exchanges.
"By strategic, we mean that China-EU relations are long-term and stable, transcend the differences in social systems and ideologies and are not changed by one time or by one event.
"By partnership, we mean that this relationship must be based on mutual trust and mutual benefit and be aimed at seeking a win-win situation.
"This is my personal understanding of the close relationship between us and our vision of the future China-EU relationship."
INTERVIEW
Q: ON DEMOCRACY IN HONG KONG
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A: Let us review the situation in the seven years since Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty.
I think we have implemented earnestly the 'one China, two systems' policy and 'Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong' as well as the Basic Law.
The capitalist system in Hong Kong has not changed. Hong Kong's laws have remained basically unchanged. Hong Kong's way of life has also not changed.
Hong Kong people ever since Hong Kong's return to China have been enjoying democratic rights and all kinds of freedom much more than in history. This is a fact.
Secondly, regarding Hong Kong's political development, we have insisted on following the principles of the Basic Law, in accordance with the actual conditions in Hong Kong, seeking gradual and orderly development. Doing this will benefit the sound development of politics in Hong Kong and is conducive to maintaining the interests of various sectors and various levels in Hong Kong, while making efforts to maintain Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability.
In reality over the past seven years since Hong Kong's return, Hong Kong's democracy has unceasingly developed. For example, Hong Kong's first legislative council had only 20 directly elected seats, the second had 24 seats, and this year the third will increase to 30.
We believe Hong Kong's political development needs to suit Hong Kong's democratic development and Hong Kong's political and economic situation.
Our objective has not changed.
The objective stipulated in the Basic Law has not changed -- to ultimately realise election by universal suffrage of the chief executive and the Legislative Council of the Special Administrative Region.
But this needs a process.
The National People's Congress made such a decision, made an interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, and in the end made a decision which fully developed democracy and repeatedly listened to the opinions of various sectors.
In a pluralistic society like Hong Kong's, it is normal to have differing opinions, but I always tell Hong Kong compatriots that everything should emphasise the long-term and fundamental interests of the people of Hong Kong, emphasise the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong.
The central government has been insistent on the policy in Hong Kong of 'one country, two systems', 'Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong' and the unswerving implementation of the Basic Law, and we still believe Hong Kong people can rule Hong Kong well by themselves, we still believe Hong Kong can certainly maintain long-term prosperity and stability."
Q: ON STEPS TO PREVENT THE ECONOMY FROM OVERHEATING.
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A: China's economy is doing quite well. We have seen very rapid growth and we have seen an increase in industrial output and profits, and agricultural production in this country has recovered to some extent.
Fiscal revenues have grown substantially, and the income of urban and rural residents continues to climb.
There's no denying we are facing some contradictions, and problems. Fixed asset investment is accelerating too quickly, and at too large a scale.
We're now faced with very serious shortages of coal, power, oil and transport.
Money supply and credit have been growing too fast.
Inflationary pressure is mounting -- particularly as seen in the prices of raw materials for production, which are climbing too rapidly.
We're focused on and are aware of this issue. We need to take effective and very forceful measures to resolve those problems as soon as possible.
Our package of measures on the financial front include, firstly, controlling money supply and total credit.
Number two, in real estate, we have set up a system to manage land use, and we have put an end to, in particular, the swallowing up of arable land.
And number three, we have reviewed, and rectified, projects under construction, as well as new construction projects.
Fourth, we have seriously handled any illegal or irregular projects that we discover, such as those that arbitrarily replace arable land.
Fifthly, across the nation, we have launched a campaign to encourage people to conserve all kinds of resources, including water, land and raw materials.
It may be already known to the Editor in Chief that China has for some time raised reserve ratios for commercial banks, and we are also going to take a series of other financial measures.
Today, we're going to announce our position in terms of strengthening the management of land.
We have also raised capital spending requirements in those industries where we believe we need to set some investment limits.
We believe that all those measures are going to take off in future, and we hope not to see any major ups and downs in our economic development.
We hope to see steady economic growth.
The crux of the problem in China's economy is structural and institutional. That is why we need to unswervingly pursue reform, and we need to continue to revamp the financial system and the investment system. |
