Connoisseur of crises sees China easily avoiding one

ICBC ex-chairman Jiang Jianqing thinks Western experts' vision of Chinese financial meltdown is alarmist

Jiang Jianqing considers himself a connoisseur, not of fine French wines, as you might expect from a banker of his stature, but rather of financial crises.

During a career in Chinese banking that's spanned four decades - it included time as the head of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world's biggest lender by assets - Jiang has studied meltdowns through the ages. He's written books and articles on banking history and the not-so-infrequent financial crises the world has witnessed over the past few centuries. "Younger generations will forget the reasons," he said, pointing to three enduring themes behind the calamities: economic imbalances, shoddy regulation, and greed.