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'It is better to fetch a flint than to beg for fire; better to dig your own well than to wish for water.'
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>China ready to boost stimulus package
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Premier Wen cautiously optimistic about a turnaround next year </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Sim Chi Yin, China Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BEIJING: China is ready to roll out a second stimulus package 'at any time' to keep its economy humming, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged yesterday, adding that he expects his country and the world to be better off next year.
The Premier's remarks were the clearest sign yet that the government could top up the eye-popping 4 trillion yuan (S$900 billion) stimulus package it introduced last November.
This was good news to countries looking to the world's third-largest economy for help to get out of the global crunch.
'Confidence is more important than gold and money,' Mr Wen told reporters at the end of the nine-day annual parliamentary session.
'First and foremost, we have to have very strong confidence. Only when we have strong confidence can we have more courage and strength and only when we have courage and strength can we overcome the difficulties.'
Saying the priority task was to bolster confidence, he added: 'I expect that next year both China and the world will be better off.'
But he readily admitted that not all is rosy. China faces 'some difficulty' in reaching its much-touted 8 per cent growth target this year. That growth rate is what Beijing says it needs to ward off unemployment-related social unrest.
Trade data released this week showed a sharp plunge in Chinese exports last month, suggesting that China's trade-dependent economy was hurting more badly than some had expected.
Still, the Premier suggested that China's chances of recovering in good time are better than elsewhere. Its banking system is not bleeding, unlike in the United States or Europe, he argued.
Another plus: Rural China, where 56 per cent of the population still lives, is a giant sponge ready to absorb government spending in much-needed infrastructure and social welfare programmes.
If all that still proves inadequate, Beijing has 'prepared enough ammunition and...can launch new economic stimulus policies at any time'.
'It is better to fetch a flint than to beg for fire; better to dig your own well than to wish for water,' he said, in a rare flash of his poetic side.
Going into the annual parliamentary session, Beijing had been widely expected to unveil a second stimulus package. Global stock markets had been dampened when this did not come to pass.
Mr Wen dismissed those hopes as founded on 'rumours and misunderstanding' and also doused widespread doubts over whether the current stimulus plan was merely repackaged old projects.
He revealed that Beijing is indeed pumping in fresh funds of 1.18 trillion yuan for new projects.
The premier also urged Washington to protect the value of Chinese holdings of US Treasuries and other debt, estimated to be worth US$1 trillion (S$1.5 trillion).
'I'd like to take this opportunity here to implore the US...to honour its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets,' he said.
The mild-mannered Premier saved his harshest words for the Dalai Lama, accusing the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader of 'going all over the world to mislead some people in political circles'. [email protected]
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>China ready to boost stimulus package
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Premier Wen cautiously optimistic about a turnaround next year </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Sim Chi Yin, China Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BEIJING: China is ready to roll out a second stimulus package 'at any time' to keep its economy humming, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged yesterday, adding that he expects his country and the world to be better off next year.
The Premier's remarks were the clearest sign yet that the government could top up the eye-popping 4 trillion yuan (S$900 billion) stimulus package it introduced last November.
This was good news to countries looking to the world's third-largest economy for help to get out of the global crunch.
'Confidence is more important than gold and money,' Mr Wen told reporters at the end of the nine-day annual parliamentary session.
'First and foremost, we have to have very strong confidence. Only when we have strong confidence can we have more courage and strength and only when we have courage and strength can we overcome the difficulties.'
Saying the priority task was to bolster confidence, he added: 'I expect that next year both China and the world will be better off.'
But he readily admitted that not all is rosy. China faces 'some difficulty' in reaching its much-touted 8 per cent growth target this year. That growth rate is what Beijing says it needs to ward off unemployment-related social unrest.
Trade data released this week showed a sharp plunge in Chinese exports last month, suggesting that China's trade-dependent economy was hurting more badly than some had expected.
Still, the Premier suggested that China's chances of recovering in good time are better than elsewhere. Its banking system is not bleeding, unlike in the United States or Europe, he argued.
Another plus: Rural China, where 56 per cent of the population still lives, is a giant sponge ready to absorb government spending in much-needed infrastructure and social welfare programmes.
If all that still proves inadequate, Beijing has 'prepared enough ammunition and...can launch new economic stimulus policies at any time'.
'It is better to fetch a flint than to beg for fire; better to dig your own well than to wish for water,' he said, in a rare flash of his poetic side.
Going into the annual parliamentary session, Beijing had been widely expected to unveil a second stimulus package. Global stock markets had been dampened when this did not come to pass.
Mr Wen dismissed those hopes as founded on 'rumours and misunderstanding' and also doused widespread doubts over whether the current stimulus plan was merely repackaged old projects.
He revealed that Beijing is indeed pumping in fresh funds of 1.18 trillion yuan for new projects.
The premier also urged Washington to protect the value of Chinese holdings of US Treasuries and other debt, estimated to be worth US$1 trillion (S$1.5 trillion).
'I'd like to take this opportunity here to implore the US...to honour its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets,' he said.
The mild-mannered Premier saved his harshest words for the Dalai Lama, accusing the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader of 'going all over the world to mislead some people in political circles'. [email protected]
I also got a mantra. You Die is Your Own Biz! Want to Die? Die in JB! Smart leh? *hee*hee*
