LONDON -- Just before the beginning of this year's meeting of the National People's Congress, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao sent a message to NPC members about to arrive in Beijing: Chi- na is still a socialist country led by a communist party and will remain so for at least another hundred years.
Why would party leaders go out of their way to remind the world that the Chinese Communist Party is top dog in China?
Actually, Wen's speech was a message to the United States, complaining about how President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have taken over negotiations with North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.