With John Perkins

American John Perkins is best known for his controversial book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, a 70-week New York Times bestseller. Published in 2004, it tells the real-life story of his extraordinary dealings as an "economic hitman" (EHM). According to Perkins, this describes those highly paid professionals who cheat countries out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex and murder.

Perkins was recently in Shanghai during his first visit to the Chinese mainland to speak at the 2009 Being Globally Responsible Conference, an event organized by MBA students from China Europe International Business School.

Q: Why have you waited until now to come to China?