The Financial Times (Great Britain): "Wen and Putin lecture western leaders"
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Gillian Tett in Davos and John Thornhill and Catherine Belton in Moscow
The leaders of China and Russia on Wednesday turned the tables on their western counterparts who have dictated the world's economic agenda, lecturing them for policy failures they said had led to the global financial crisis.
Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, and Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, used the World Economic Forum in Davos to argue that the two rising powers must play a bigger role in a new economic order.
Mr Putin mocked American delegates who had talked at last year's Davos gathering about the US economy's "fundamental stability and its cloudless prospects", saying that "investment banks, the pride of Wall Street, have virtually ceased to exist".
Mr Wen made scathing comments about the "inappropriate macroeconomic policies" of some unnamed countries and the "unsustainable model of development characterised by prolonged low savings and high consumption".
He attacked financial institutions' "blind pursuit of profit" and their "lack of self-discipline".
The two men's self-confident speeches contrasted with the gloomy mood hanging over the annual gathering of the world's political, financial and social leaders. "This is Davos under the Russian flag," Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin's spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday.
Their speeches came as a senior adviser to Dmitry Medvedev, Russian president, criticised the scale of the new US administration's economic rescue package and projected budget deficit, saying it would suck liquidity from other global markets.
"What is discouraging is [Barack] Obama's statement that he is going to run a $1 trillion deficit for years to come. For us, that means that all the free liquidity in the world will run into American Treasury bills," said Igor Yurgens, who heads a think tank advising Mr Medvedev.
Mr Yurgens likened the policy to the "beggar thy neighbour" protectionist policies of the 1930s. "Of course, [Mr Obama] expects the Chinese or Russians to buy US Treasury bills. That is pretty selfish and philosophically it is protectionism," he said.
Mr Wen also voiced concern about protectionism as he called for the establishment of "a new world economic order that is just, equitable, sound and stable".
China had "the confidence, conditions and ability to maintain steady and fast economic growth and continue to contribute to world economic growth", Mr Wen said.
He added that, while it would be difficult for China to meet forecasts of 8 per cent GDP growth in 2009, it was "attainable with hard work".
Mr Wen made no mention of last week's comments by Timothy Geithner, the incoming US Treasury secretary, accusing China of manipulating its currency to boost its economy.
He said, however, that a confrontational relationship with the US "will make both losers". Mr Yurgens' comments highlighted the challenges facing the Russian economy in grappling with the global financial crisis.
Russia is facing its first recession in 10 years and has spent a third of its hard currency reserves battling against a run on the rouble that was sparked by the steep decline in commodity prices and the global credit crisis.
