[photopress:premier_wen_jibao.jpg,full,alignright]A netizen in the southern coastal province of Guangdong has invited Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to conduct online chatting with netizens worldwide during the upcoming parliamentary session in Beijing. There is a precedent for this — the Internet communication experiences of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The netizen, who identified himself as ‘an ordinary Chinese’, wrote in an online letter posted at the BBS forum of baoliao.oeeee.com:
‘With this year’s ‘two sessions’ around the corner, I have a bold request, that is, I want to invite Premier Wen to log on the Internet during the session period and conduct online chatting with Chinese and foreign netizens across the world — about state issues, family affairs and other big or small topics.’
The ‘two sessions’ refer to the once-a-year full meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top advisory body.
According to Southern Metropolis News, which sponsored the special BBS forum column titled ‘I have a question for the premier’, the netizen is a college lecturer in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, who only revealed his real-life identity as a Mr. Luo.
According to Southern Metropolis News, Luo’s invitation letter was actually inspired by Premier Wen’s remarks at last year’s two sessions, when he met Chinese and foreign journalists at a routine press conference immediately after the closing of the parliamentary session.
Premier Wen had told the journalists that he gained ‘confidence and strength’ from the fact that Chinese netizens had raised hundreds of thousands of questions to him concerning his work and the performance of his cabinet through the country’s leading news websites.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
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