Mr. Wen has been Premier of China since late 2002, the second highest ranking position. In late 2012 him and China's current leader Hu Jintao are expected to cede power to the "next generation" of leaders.
All of the sudden in the past several months, Mr. Wen has been making all sorts of 'crazy' statements. On
April 15 “Returning to Xingyi, Remembering Hu Yaobang”, Mr. Wen editorialized very favorably about reformist official whose death sparked the Tienanmen protests.
'In 1987 Hu Yaobang was ousted from power and from the Party after he was accused of being too lax with critical intelligentsia in the wake of a series of student protests. Hu was a beloved leader with a sterling reputation for integrity and for putting the people first, so when he died on April 15th, 1989, many went to Tiananmen Square to grieve. Some stayed there to express grievances with the current regime, and mouring for Hu Yaobang’s death became the catalyst for the massive student protests that ended in martial law being declared and the government crackdown on June 4th'
Wen praised Hu's work, then concluded 'After his passing, I have visited his home every year for the new (lunar) year, and it is always with a deep feeling of love that I look on his portraits in the living room there. His long gaze and firm expression always give me strength, give me encouragement, and drive me to be more diligent in my work of serving the people.'
On
May 4,
Wen Jiabao sat down with students from Peking University to talk about fairness, justice and democracy.
''Justice shines more brilliantly than sunshine,'' the Premier said, in a visit to mark the anniversary of the May 4 student protest movement led by Peking University students in 1919.
''To commemorate May 4th, we must above all carry out its spirit of scientific learning and democracy … Everyone needs to not only understand the meaning of these words, they must also practise them.''
Wen even appeared to criticise the university's politically savvy president - ''a university should be run by someone who understands education'' - while unofficial reports said he ticked off officials for stage-managing his visit. This was the fifth time in three months he has publicly associated himself with a reformist agenda, while others in the Politburo stay largely silent.
In
August, on a visit to Shenzhen, the launching platform of China's economic reforms,
Wen turned to political reform, saying " "If there is no guarantee of reform of the political system, then results obtained from the reform of the economic system may be lost, and the goal of modernisation cannot be achieved,""
"Did Wen go off message?" was the question asked by the Wall Street Journal, while the Economist queried whether it could really be believed.
In an
interview last Sunday with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Wen said "I believe I and all the Chinese people have such conviction that China will make continuous progress and the people's wishes and need for democracy and freedom are irresistible. I hope you will be able to gradually see the continuous progress of China."
Asked about censorship, the 68-year-old Mr Wen added: "I believe freedom of speech is indispensable for any country, a country in the course of development and in a country that has become strong." He insisted that there was freedom to criticise the Chinese government on the internet, where he said he had often seen views aired that were sharply critical of officials.
There has been skepticism about whether Wen’s comments in recent months really herald a new reform era. But
on China’s Internet, an outpouring of support for Wen followed quickly after bilingual Chinese-English transcripts of the interview began appearing.“If this is real, and if it’s needed, I’ll give my life, too,” wrote “Andrianme” on Sina Weibo.
“The three great men of the last century: Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping,” read a post that had earned more than 11,000 ‘recommend’ clicks on the Phoenix TV site as of this writing. “If Premier Wen can really push through political reform, he’ll be the first great man of the new century.”
Wen's comments were later censored. So comments of the Premier of China were censored in China's own media.
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This is
before the actions of the Nobel Committee.
Unfortunately, all this calls into question whether the Nobel Committee's award was poorly timed. It's harsh statement in awarding the reward damages the position of China's reformers (hopefully only temporarily) and liberals just at the time when a rift appears to be opening up within the Politburo in preparation for the 2012 National People's Congress, when the successor to the Hu-Wen administration will be chosen. It is a pity that the Nobel Committee has ignored what is happening within China this year.
Of course, the opposing argument is that this is
all simply a rouse to make it seem like more is happening than really is.
