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PRINTSpeaker: Zhou Wenzhong, former ambassador of China to the United States
Date: March 6 2012
Summary:
Three critical issues will be of focus for the current Chinese government this year: reform, growth and the overall welfare of its people. These will also be important issues inherited by the successive leadership in 2013.
In this exclusive interview, Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, a standing committee member of the CPPCC and former ambassador to the United States, assesses the trajectory of Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent economic report. Growth may be set for 7.5 percent but China still confronts many bottlenecks and only by deepening the reform progress will it be able to achieve continued growth and sustainable development, says Zhou.
In light of the recent Two Sessions, he also touches upon the unique role the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the important role it plays. Contrary to popular belief, the CPPCC is not merely a ‘consultative group’ but an organization actively engaged in the policymaking processes.
Not many people realize for instance, that there are nine separate committees within the CPPCC, each with different responsibilities in several different areas of policy. The CPPCC was responsible for organizing 85 study missions last year with the aim of fostering better understanding of the foreign affairs of different countries.
