As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains momentum, China’s Foreign Ministry encourages Chinese citizens to reflect upon how best to sustain healthy economic growth. The Telegraph reports:
Anti-greed protesters rallied globally on Saturday, denouncing bankers and politicians over the international economic crisis, with violence rocking Rome where cars were torched and bank windows smashed.
“We have noticed the media has reported a lot about this issue recently. We think that there are many issues here which people ought to think about,” ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a regular news briefing.
“We have noticed that in the media there has been comment, discussion and reflection about these activities. But all these reflections ought to be conducive towards maintaining the stable and healthy development of the global economy,” he added.
The Associated Press emphasizes that the call for reflection may be a tactic to keep the movement from spreading into mainland China:
The state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial that the Chinese should “calmly observe the protest movement and the global situation, and not be confused by extreme points of view.”
Earlier in the year, anonymous online calls for protests in China inspired by those that have swept across the Middle East and North Africa spooked the Chinese government into launching one of its broadest campaigns of repression in years. The calls for demonstrations every Sunday did not draw any overt protesters.
For a wrap up of Occupy Wall Street’s presence (or lack thereof) in China, Stratfor Global Intelligence has posted a video brief.
Also, see previous coverage of why Occupy Wall Street couldn’t happen in China, of a China Daily editor reprimanding the US media for their lack of coverage, and of Occupy Taipei, all via CDT.
