Premier's Press Conference
On March 13 Premier Wen Jiabao held the annual NPC press conference to a gallery of domestic and international reporters. Wen remarked that the international financial crisis is an extraordinary situation. China has over half of its estimated $2 trillion of foreign exchange holdings in United States Treasury securities and other U.S. government debt and Wen remarked, "We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried." Wen asked the U.S. to "maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets". In particular, Wen was confident that China's economy would continue to grow at a rate of 8% in 2009. Wen played down speculation that the 1.18 trillion Yuan of central government stimulus is not completely directed to new investments, and that the government was ready to make new stimulus plans if need be in the future. Wen also mentioned his aspiration to visit Taiwan.
Read more about this topic: 2009 National People's Congress
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