Chinese Leader Fields Executives’ Questions (on economics, trade policy, etc.)

[groovedaddy]

(This is really worth a read. gd)

When Bill Gates confronts the prime minister of China on the need to honor software copyrights, it helps to have a referee — say, a Henry Kissinger — to moderate the debate.

That, in fact, is what happened at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Wednesday morning in Midtown Manhattan.

In a remarkable 90-minute meeting, with Mr. Kissinger playing M.C., Mr. Gates and other heavyweight executives and economists from the West engaged Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. He listened patiently, and often volleyed back, on topics including currency and trade policies, foreign investment and whether China needed to improve its social safety net.

Others in the circle — literally a large ring of a few dozen chairs — included Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase; Lloyd C. Blankfein, the Goldman Sachs chief; Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel in economics; Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief of American Express; and PepsiCo’s chief executive, Indra K. Nooyi.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/business/23yuan.html?th&emc=th