Stephen Roache, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's chief economist, wondered if jet lag was clouding his judgement. It was June, and his ninth trip to China in 27 months. But this was a visit with a difference. There was unmistakably more openness.
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Roache was one of 500 participants invited to a forum held once every Five years by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), although of the 500 only 30 were foreigners, only three were American and Roache was the only representative of a US investment bank. "It's usually a very inward-looking conference that is closed to outsiders," says Roache. "The theme this year was economics and globalization and was very outward-looking, which in itself tells you something about China today."
Even more telling was what was originally billed as a 15-minute "courtesy meeting" with president Jiang Zemin for the foreign participants in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.