#13
strana.ru
October 18, 2001
Putin – China’s Most Popular Foreign Leader – to
Arrive in Shanghai Thursday
Russian president to deliver report on Russia’s role in the region
All of the desks in the spacious press center at the foot of Shanghai's huge television tower, The Oriental Pearl, have been occupied since early morning. Over three thousand journalists - representing about five hundred Chinese and foreign news agencies, newspapers, magazines, and television and radio networks - have flocked to China's megalopolis, which is hosting the current Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
Leaders of the participating countries are due to start arriving today. President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who will deliver a 30-minute report about Russia's role in the Asia Pacific Region in the 21st century, is expected in the afternoon. He is the most popular foreign leader throughout Chinese society.
"We believe in Putin, he has given Russia stability," says Shi Xiaoping, a bus manager at the press center. In a clear "abuse of office," this energetic Chinese man asks us to take that message to the Russian president, for greater show adding in Russian, "Khorosho, tovarishch!" (Alright, comrade!). However, the word tunzhi (comrade) is now in use in China at party meetings alone. In everyday speech, everyone prefers to address each other as xiansheng, which means "first-born," or "mister."
Once famous for its banks and international concessions, Shanghai has regained, over the last fifteen years of economic reforms, its former status as a financial and economic center on the world scale. Telltale signs of this evolution are skyscrapers dotting Pudung, the new business area that stretches along the Huangpu River. But even more than the new construction projects, the Shanghai city folk prize their urban culture and the high level of social organization. The local flair for civilization is manifested in the organization of the Forum.
The security of the high-ranking guests, for example, will be provided by about 10,000 police officers and secret service agents. At anchor off the coast are ships of the Eastern Fleet of the Chinese Navy. Special air regulations are in effect as well. Foreigners traveling to Shanghai by rail have their luggage examined while still en route.
Yet, in the megalopolis itself, the emergency arrangements are enforced in a surprisingly reasonable manner. There are no tanks or APCs in evidence. It is only occasionally that one can spot rifle-toting soldiers in combat fatigues and helmets, although the presence of special forces somewhere "behind the scenes" is causing no doubt.
The "scene" in the meantime consists of the biggest Shanghai hotels set aside for the national delegations and bilateral meetings. George Bush, for example, intends to talk to Vladimir Putin in the old-style Heping (Peace) hotel. A tip for history lovers: it is where the Russian spy Richard Zorge loved to stay during his frequent visits to Shanghai. It also boasts Shanghai's very fine jazz band, which was once directed by Oleg Lundstrem, formerly a Shanghai inhabitant.
The Russian delegation is staying at the Xin Jinjiang hotel, a modern 43-story building. Boris Yeltsin stayed there in 1996 - and President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan this summer - while attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
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