Voice from Los Angeles

Los Angeles Times: Chinese premier slams U.S. 'protectionism,' says yuan is not too low 15/03

In an annual news conference Sunday that took direct aim at the United States, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao defended his country's currency policy and said it was up to Washington to mend Sino-American relations.

Rejecting charges that China kept the yuan artificially low to boost its exports, Wen said the Chinese currency was not undervalued and that the government's policy of controlling the exchange rate had boosted imports and helped spur economic recovery across the globe.

Liu Baocheng, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said Wen's comments reflected the concerns and interests of local governments and manufacturers who are lobbying to bolster employment and profits.

Wen rebuffed international criticism that China had become arrogant and was engaging in triumphalism -- charges that were largely flung after the Copenhagen climate-change talks ended without a binding agreement. Wen painted the world's most populous nation as a country marching toward development against major odds.

Citing the yawning income gap between urban and rural residents and China's unbalanced economy, Wen said the government had too many domestic issues to address to focus on influencing affairs overseas. China, he said, would always be a passive nation.

"China will never seek hegemony," Wen said.

Los Angeles Times: 14/03

More than 3,000 journalists are credentialed to cover the meetings, all wearing different colored badges -- green for foreign press; brown for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao; blue for Chinese domestic media, which have the greatest access to the deputies and the largest number of reporters, about 1,900 this year.

From Metallurgy News to the China Sports Daily, virtually all publications sent reporters to the congress because it is the one time of year that they have access to the people in power.

Many of the journalists throw softballs ("What are your wishes for the Chinese people in this new year?"); others run after the deputies and grill them.

At times, the deputies bristled at the aggressiveness of the Chinese journalists.