Jeepers. This copy from the Washington Post’s Q&A with China’s Hu Jintao struck me as a laundry list of central government action, although merely a list, perhaps insufficient, perhaps better than nothing, yet definitely more assertive than the perpetual arguing in our politics. I threw in a numbered count while wondering if any US political party could manage the complexity on our plate.
Question #3;
What lessons do you think can be drawn from the 2008 international financial crisis? What effective measures did China adopt to counter the impact of the crisis?
Hu Jintao answers #3:
This international financial crisis has reflected the absence of regulation in financial innovation. Its root cause lies in the serious defects of the existing financial system. . . . The international financial crisis has inflicted on China unprecedented difficulties and challenges.
To address its impact and maintain the steady and relatively fast growth of the economy, China quickly 1. adjusted its macroeconomic policies, 2. resolutely adopted the proactive fiscal policy and 3. moderately easy monetary policy, 4. put in place a package plan to boost domestic demand and stimulate economic growth, 5. significantly increased government investment, 6. implemented industrial readjustment and 7. reinvigoration plans on a large scale, 8. energetically promoted scientific innovation and 9. technological upgrading, 10. raised social welfare benefits by a substantial margin and 11. introduced a more active employment policy. As a result, our economy in 2009 and 2010 maintained steady and relatively fast growth and contributed to the economic recovery of the region and the world.
Looking ahead, China will take 12. scientific development as the main theme and focus on 13. transforming the economic development pattern at a faster pace. We will implement a 14. proactive fiscal policy and a 15. prudent monetary policy, 16. speed up economic restructuring, 17. vigorously strengthen indigenous innovation, make good progress in 18. energy conservation and 19. pollution reduction, continue to 20. deepen reform and 21. opening-up, work hard to ensure and 22. improve people’s livelihood, build on the achievements in 23. addressing the international financial crisis, 24. maintain steady and relatively fast economic growth and 25. promote social stability and harmony.
China will pursue the win-win 26. strategy of opening-up and stands ready to work with the United States and the international community as a whole to 27. intensify practical cooperation, properly handle various risks and challenges, and 28. make greater contribution to the overall recovery of the world economy.