雪缘园棒球比分直播:Watch: China's Presumptive Premier-to-Be Busts Out English

Watch: China's Presumptive Premier-to-Be Busts Out English Skills

正文
评论(47)
更多中国实时报的文章 »
投稿
打印
转发
MSN推荐
博客引用
    中文
字体
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, widely expected to replace Wen Jiabao as premier in 18 months, showed off his English-language skills at a speech Thursday morning on a high-profile trip to Hong Kong.
In the final moments of an 11-minute address at The University of Hong Kong, Mr. Li surprised an audience of top political and business leaders when he switched to speak in English, expressing confidently his praise for the accomplishments of Hong Kong's oldest university. Unlike most universities in China and Hong Kong, English is HKU's main language of instruction.
'HKU…has become a key higher education institution in China, playing an increasingly important role in China's development and integration with the world,' Mr. Li said, at times pausing to ensure that each word was spoken clearly.
Previous Chinese leaders have been relatively eager to showcase their English acumen in particular Jiang Zemin, who was known to recite the Gettysburg Address and croon Elvis Presley songs. The current crop of top officials has been less demonstrative of its foreign-language skills and generally more guarded, especially President Hu Jintao
Even less is known about the rising generation of rulers: Mr. Li and current Vice President Xi Jinping. They seldom appear in public outside the carefully crafted bubble of the state media apparatus rarely, if ever, for example, speaking to foreign media, particularly since they were promoted into the ruling Communist Party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee in 2007 and effectively anointed as the next bosses of what is now the world's No. 2 economy.
As a result, glimpses of Mr. Li and Mr. Xi are much studied by China watchers and foreign governments trying to gauge where the Asian giant might be headed. U.S. officials, for example, are hoping this week's visit to China by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to offer some insight into Mr. Xi, with whom he is meeting extensively
Mr. Li's three-day visit to Hong Kong, which ended Thursday, was dominated by big economic offerings, including several initiatives aimed at easing the flow of so-called offshore yuan traded in Hong Kong back into mainland China. He also announced plans for funds that would let mainland Chinese investors trade Hong Kong stocks.
Mr. Li's bilingual speech at HKU sparked discussion in mainland China's vibrant online community. Some bloggers on Sina's popular Twitter-like Weibo microblogging service raved about the vice premier's English capabilities. Others, however, said they weren't happy that he spoke English in a former British colony.
'Does Hong Kong belong to China or England?' wrote one angry user. 'Never forget the dream of being a slave to the West, never forget to pander.'
'For a high-level leader at that age to dare to use English in a public speech even if he is consulting a script is progress,' countered another.