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Wen issues clarion call for market morality in China and the world
By Wang Yong |
March 3, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IN his historic online talk with Chinese Netizens, Premier Wen Jiabao issued a moral call to economists, entrepreneurs and bankers to help the poor survive the global financial crisis.
It was not just a warning to any individual "expert" or "tycoon" who might have been slow in coming to the rescue of those less fortunate, but also a message to the market economy the world over: China knows no market only for the rich.
"I've often said that there must be a moral element in the blood of economists, entrepreneurs and bankers," Wen told hundreds of millions of Chinese Netizens Saturday in his first online exchange with the cyber masses. It was jointly hosted by www.gov.cn and www.xinhuanet.com.
Wen's talk came just a few days ahead of two of the nation's most important annual meetings this week during the financial crisis. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference opens today, and the National People's Congress begins on Thursday.
The development of public participation in governance, expressed in the two annual events and in others, took a crucial step forward in Premier Wen's direct talk with Netizens, a dialogue that went on more than two hours.
Premier Wen raised the moral banner when he answered a question from a Netizen named Shen Yuefang, who identified herself as the boss of a small, private firm in Zhejiang Province.
She asked Premier Wen whether the government could help businesses like hers get bank loans in time to tide them over the crisis.
"The Chinese economy would buoy up if small businesses thrive," she said. "But now we find it so difficult to borrow from banks as we bend under the ongoing (financial) crisis."
Premier Wen said the government, among other things, had asked all major commercial banks to set up a special department for small and medium-sized enterprises.
"But why are so many Netizens still asking these questions (like Shen's)? I think the government measures (to help smaller firms) have not been well carried out."
"When our country finds herself in a difficult situation, we should improve our (financial) system and, on that basis, lend our hands in an active manner to the small and medium-sized enterprises," he said. "That shows your readiness to share the country's burden in deeds. I hope every bank will do it."
Every bank, every economist and every entrepreneur, heed Premier Wen's words and live up to them.
'Erudite elites'
Gone are the days when a megalomaniac "expert" or "tycoon" would wag his tongue and speak only for the rich.
That some Chinese economists work for certain interest groups such as housing tycoons is an open secret.
For a long time, they dominated, or tried to dominate, the domain of public opinion, by speaking from behind the mask of "erudite elites."
Free speech is indispensable to a democratic society, but it should never be hijacked by "experts" in their flight from reality and sometimes, their conspiracy to share the profits of the super rich.
Premier Wen's remarks about the market and morality deserve respect for their unequivocal challenge to any attempt to deprive the market of its moral compass.
Premier Wen repeated the importance of morality in his reply to a Netizen named "Gold beans and silver beans," who asked whether the government would work to narrow income gaps.
"I've often read 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' by Adam Smith, in which he talks about two invisible hands: one market, one morality," Wen said. "A society is unfair and inevitably unstable if a few people corner wealth for a long time while the majority struggle in poverty."
It was not just a warning to any individual "expert" or "tycoon" who might have been slow in coming to the rescue of those less fortunate, but also a message to the market economy the world over: China knows no market only for the rich.
"I've often said that there must be a moral element in the blood of economists, entrepreneurs and bankers," Wen told hundreds of millions of Chinese Netizens Saturday in his first online exchange with the cyber masses. It was jointly hosted by www.gov.cn and www.xinhuanet.com.
Wen's talk came just a few days ahead of two of the nation's most important annual meetings this week during the financial crisis. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference opens today, and the National People's Congress begins on Thursday.
The development of public participation in governance, expressed in the two annual events and in others, took a crucial step forward in Premier Wen's direct talk with Netizens, a dialogue that went on more than two hours.
Premier Wen raised the moral banner when he answered a question from a Netizen named Shen Yuefang, who identified herself as the boss of a small, private firm in Zhejiang Province.
She asked Premier Wen whether the government could help businesses like hers get bank loans in time to tide them over the crisis.
"The Chinese economy would buoy up if small businesses thrive," she said. "But now we find it so difficult to borrow from banks as we bend under the ongoing (financial) crisis."
Premier Wen said the government, among other things, had asked all major commercial banks to set up a special department for small and medium-sized enterprises.
"But why are so many Netizens still asking these questions (like Shen's)? I think the government measures (to help smaller firms) have not been well carried out."
"When our country finds herself in a difficult situation, we should improve our (financial) system and, on that basis, lend our hands in an active manner to the small and medium-sized enterprises," he said. "That shows your readiness to share the country's burden in deeds. I hope every bank will do it."
Every bank, every economist and every entrepreneur, heed Premier Wen's words and live up to them.
'Erudite elites'
Gone are the days when a megalomaniac "expert" or "tycoon" would wag his tongue and speak only for the rich.
That some Chinese economists work for certain interest groups such as housing tycoons is an open secret.
For a long time, they dominated, or tried to dominate, the domain of public opinion, by speaking from behind the mask of "erudite elites."
Free speech is indispensable to a democratic society, but it should never be hijacked by "experts" in their flight from reality and sometimes, their conspiracy to share the profits of the super rich.
Premier Wen's remarks about the market and morality deserve respect for their unequivocal challenge to any attempt to deprive the market of its moral compass.
Premier Wen repeated the importance of morality in his reply to a Netizen named "Gold beans and silver beans," who asked whether the government would work to narrow income gaps.
"I've often read 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' by Adam Smith, in which he talks about two invisible hands: one market, one morality," Wen said. "A society is unfair and inevitably unstable if a few people corner wealth for a long time while the majority struggle in poverty."
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