i asked china's premier wen jiabao. do you feel that the global economy is at this point stable and strong or do you worry a lot that there is a danger of the so-called double dip, the united states in particular could go back into a recession? >> translator: well, objectively speaking, i think the world economy is recovering, although the process of recovery is a slow and tortuous one. people may not have the same view on this matter but i believe we will learn a lesson from the reality. i hope that there will be a quick recovery of the u.s. economy, because, after all, the u.s. economy is the largest in the world. i have taken note of the recent policies and measures taken by president obama including the program of doubling the united states' exports, and the massive investment in infrastructural development. i think these policies and measures are the ones on the right track, moving in the right direction. although they came a little bit late, they still came in time. this reminds me of the time when i took the big

the premiere of china, wen jiabao, argued elegantly against censorship in my recent interview with him. but then our interview was censored in china. twice. what's up? next, what does this wild american political campaign look like to the rest of the world? and what's going on in the rest of the world anyway? we'll ask our panel of great global thinkers. and finally a last look at iran's supreme leader, ayatollah khomeini. he's a revolutionary again. you'll be surprised at what kind. let's get started. after years and years of dismal, dreary reports out of afghanistan, there was something of a change this week. headlines this week said that allied forces were routing the taliban in kandahar, that highest level taliban commanders were coming to the table for peace talks. we're going the find out the reality behind the headlines. joining me now is richard holbrooke. holbrooke is the u.s. special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. he joins me from the state department. welcome back, ambassador holbrooke. >> great to be with you again, fareed. >> so let's start with the talks. is

. >>> chinese premier wen jiabao says china will not seek hegemony or domination. the remark comes over international concern over china's hard-line diplomatic moves. wen spoke before international ambassadors and diplomats in a ceremony on thursday, the eve of china's national day. his statement comes amid growing tension between japan and china following ship collisions near the senkaku islands. in the east china sea. the islands are administered by japan but claimed by china and taiwan. tension also remains between china and southeast asian nations over other disputed islands in the south china sea. wen has recently said china will not compromise when it comes to sovereignty and territorial integrity. wen's latest remark appears to be intended to allay growing concerns that china represents a threat. >>> now the country, china, has >>> the three say they mistakenly entered without realizing it. a fourth man is still being held. on september 20th, chinese authorities detained the four men on suspicion of entering a military district without permission and videotap

those are the words of china's premier, wen jiabao, to me when i interviewed him just a few weeks ago. powerful words from a powerful man. and it wasn't just about freedom of speech but about political reform as a whole and about the future of china. his words were called "pathbreaking" and "eyebrow raising" by sclrs. that's why what happened next really got my attention. chinese officials, quote, harmonized, unquote, my interview with the premier. that's the chinese lingo for "censored." there was an official news blackout of the entire interview. china's official news agency reported that there had been an interview, but it didn't report any of what wen jiabao said. and if you clicked on links to real news reports, this is what you got -- a blank page. so essentially the only place in china to read what he actually said was on blogs and social media that had been able to evade censors. then one week after cnn aired the wen jiabao interview, an open letter was sent from 23 senior communist party elders in china to the top politicians in the land. the letter quoted wen jiabao's words

they expressed a sense of relief when chinese premier wen jiabao showed his intent to mend the strained ties in an informal meeting with japanese prime minister naoto kan on monday. >> this conflict between these two major countries had to be brought to an end. it has been brought to an end. that's good news for the global world. >> observers at the venue say sentiment among european leaders shows they share challenges over china as a growing world power. >>> french police have arrested 12 people in ofrpgperations aga islamic militant networks. the arrests came as europe remains under high alert for terrorism. local authorities have information that extremists linked to al qaeda are planning attacks. police say they detained nine people in the marseille area and seized weapons including an automatic rifle along with ammunition. three other suspects were detained in bordeaux in a separate raid. police say the 12 had been in contact with a recently arrested algerian man who may have trained at an islamic militant camp near the afghan-pakistani border. >>> a u.s. federal court has sentence

. >>> naoto kan and wen jiabao have agreed to mend bilateral ties that deteriorated after a collision between a trawler and vessels in the east china sea. kan told reporters that he had a half hour talk with wen oton sidelines of the asem summit in brussels on sunday. >> kan said he stated that the senkaku islands are a part of jan annd that no territorial issue is present. wen reportedly reiterated his position. the current situation is not favorable and that japan and china should work toward establishing a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship. he also said they agreed to hold high level talks between their governments and resume private sector exchanges that were canceled or postponed after the maritime incident. now, prime minister kan has emphasized the importance of international rules on trade and natural resources. he was speaking on the opening day of the asia-europe meeting in brussels. he said that to deepen relations between asia and europe and to ensure growth, it's important for the participants to abide by common international rules including those governing t

meanwhile, the japanese government is coordinating talks with kan and chinese premier wen jiabao, where they hope to discuss ways to improve bilateral ties. >>> iraq's oil minister has called on japanese companies to invest and start businesses in his country. >> however, we do wish to see more japanese companies actually coming and working not only in the fuel development, also in the refineries and the electricity. >> husain al-shahristani made the appeal at a meeting with japan's ambassador mitts owe sakaba on wednesday. sakaba, who's in charge of coordinating assistance for iraq's reconstruction, is making his first visit to the iraqi capital since he took office last month. >> translator: japan will continue to support iraq through its official development assistance. to rebuild the country iraq will also need economic growth to japan's private sector as well. >> iraq is anxious to receive japanese technology, but lingering instability is holding japanese firms back from doing business there. south korea and other countries have already won contracts with iraq to develop natural ga

their only message for wen jiabao, a strong yuan is good for everyone. >> china and the united states are germany's biggest trading partners outside of europe. earlier this year, china overtook germany as the export champion of the world. the united states, despite the current financial crisis, remains the biggest economy in the world. our next report looks at the company near homburg -- hamburg, keeps a very close eye on the exchange rate, because 3/4 of its turnover depend on exports. >> many of his potential clients work in u.s. dollars, putting him at a disadvantage, as the current strength of the euro makes his product more expensive. if the euro appreciates further, the consequences could be significant. >> let's say the euro went to about you of $1 u.s. -- $1.50 u.s., it would become much more difficult to export to the u.s. and to other regions that use the dollar. >> that could lead to a slowdown in exports to countries outside europe. one company based in northern germany builds farm machinery used for mixing animal feed. the euro exchange rate is a constant source of stress

they expressed a sense of relief when chinese premier wen jiabao showed his intent to mend the strained ties with an informal meeting with the japanese prime minister naoto kan on monday. >> this conflict between these two major countries has to be brought to an end. it has been brought to an end. that's good news for the global world. >> a correspondent at the venue says the sentiment among european leaders indicates they shared challenges over china as a growing world power. >>> in iraq a car bomb has killed a cameraman who worked for a u.s. affiliated tv station. an international media advocacy group has condemned the killing and is calling for better protection for journalists. on monday in the western province of ambar the contract cameraman for the u.s. affiliated arabic language satellite tv station was killed by a bomb placed under his car. this is the latest in a series of targeted attacks against the media in iraq. seven people have been killed since july. in the same month four people, including security guards, were killed when a vehicle exploded near the baghdad bureau of d

. >>> japanese prime minister naoto kan and chinese premier wen jiabao have agreed to mend bilateral ties that deteriorated after a collision between a chinese trawler and japanese patrol vessels in the east china sea. kan told reporters that he had a half hour talk with wen on the sidelines of the asem summit in brussels on monday. kan said he stated that the senkaku islands are an integral part of japan and that no territorial issue is present. wen reportedly reiterated his position. kan said that the two leaders agreed that the current situation is not favorable and that japan and china should work toward establishing a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship. he also said they agreed to hold high level talks between their governments and resume private sector exchanges that were canceled or postponed after the maritime incident. >>> now in his statement, prime minister kan has emphasized the importance of international rules on trade and natural resources. he said to deepen relations between asia and europe and ensure growth, it's important for the participants to abide by

at a meeting in brussels, wen jiabao was holding a meeting. european officials believe yu that the operaan -- believe that the yuan is currently undervalued. >> the understanding was that great britain and china need each other, but the issue was the currency. they were trying to say that the undervalued currency was affecting european exporters and should appreciate. >> this is a significant and broadbased appreciation that would promote a more balanced growth for china and the global economy. >> they say that it is in the interest of china to keep the imports and exports and balance, but the on the economy depends on the demand for european products in china. >> this is a motor for growth right now. china is wanting to play a larger role in the global economy and is very important that it will do this. it is very important to make certain that the currency is valued with the european exchange rate. >> of all china is wanting to make certain that they control the speed of the rise in the currency. with the g-20 summit a few weeks away, the pr

. >>> chinese premier wen jiabao has urged the european union to stop pressuring china to revalue its currency in a speech in belgium. wen spoke at a meeting of european business people in brussels on wednesday, ahead of a summit with the eu leaders. wen said a rapid revaluation would force many chinese exporters out of business and migrant workers to return to their villages, causing social turmoil. the eu has stepped up calls for china to allow the yuan to appreciate, arguing that its exchange rate is being kept too low. wen pointed out, however, that china has helped european countries saddled with fiscal deficits. >>> meanwhile, in washington u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner has urged emerging economies to be more flexible in their foreign exchange policies. geithner made the remark in a speech on wednesday that came just before the weekend meetings of the group of seven nations. the international monetary fund and the world bank. >> we believe it's very important to see more progress by the major emerging economies to more flexible market-oriented exchange rate systems. t

he spoke of the likelihood of naoto kan meeting the chinese wen jiabao during the summit in vietnam. >> meanwhile, japan's chief cabinet secretary said on tuesday that talks between the two countries' leaders is possible. >> japan's trade and industry minister says some rare earth metal imports from china have resumed but they're still far from normal. the shipments had virtually stopped after the diplomatic dispute between tokyo and beijing. speaking to reporters on tuesday, it was hinted that japan may send officials to china if exports of rare metals remain stalled. >> translator: if we cannot see any improvement on shipments, we may take some form of action around next week to ask china to improve the situation. >> defense ministers from the ten-member asean plus eight countries including japan and the united states have expressed concern over territorial disputes in the south china sea. >>> the meeting is the first ever regional security conference held in vietnam's capital hanoi on tuesday. vietnam's defense minister told reporters after the conference that japan, the u.s., and

>>> japan's prime minister naoto kan hopes to hold a bilateral meeting with chinese pre premier wen jiabao in hanoi on the sidelines of the asean meetings. >> kan says he would like to meet and reaffirm with wen that the two countries will deepen mutually beneficial strategic relationships. he would welcome the resumption of private sector exchanges that have been suspended or delayed following the collision of a chinese fishing boat with two japanese patrol boats near japan's senkaku islands, which china claims. kan and wen met briefly on october 5th when they were in belgium for the summit of asian and european leaders. at the time they agreed to restore mutually beneficial strategic relationships. but anti-japanese protests flared up in several chinese cities between october 16th and 26th. >>> therack obama will not visit hiroshima and nagasaki, the two japanese cities struck by u.s. nuclear bombs, when he travels to japan next month. the white house said on thursday that obama will arrive in japan on november 12th for an asia pacific economic cooperation forum summit in yokohama. on th

this move comes after japan's prime minister, naoto kan, and chinese premier wen jiabao agreed earlier this month that the two nations will work to build a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship. saiki also met wu dawei, who chairs the six-party talks on the north korea nuclear program. afterwards wu told reporters that they exchanged views on the stalled six-party talks. the meeting came after wu met north korean first vice minister kim kye gwan in beijing. >>> foreign minister seiji maehara has explained to australian foreign minister kevin rudd japan's stance on the senkaku islands. at a meeting in tokyo on wednesday evening maehara said the islands are japan's inherent territory and that japan wants to improve ties with china. the australian foreign minister reportedly showed his understanding on japan's stance. maehara and rudd also agreed to keep in close contact on the possibility of japan importing rare earth metals from australia. maehara said that not only the japanese government but the private sector is interested in australian rare earth metals. this comes after ch

. >>> this sunday, an exclusive interview with china's premier wen jiabao.ss of the recovery. here's an excerpt. >> do you feel that the global economy is, at this point, stable and strong? or do you worry a lot that there is a danger of the so-called double dip, the united states in particular could go back into a recession? >> translator: well, objectively speaking, i think the world economy is recovering, although the process of recovery is a slow and torturous one. people may not have the same

this week about china drawing off my interview with premier wen jiabao."time's" international edition and featured in the u.s. edition and a superb essay in this issue by joe klein about his road trip across america, reading the tea party leaves. go to our website you'll find links to all of it. >>> now for the last look, there's a british prime minister who has just climbed to the top of the pops, but i think you'll be surprised at which one. no david come ran and nick clegg have not formed the downing street duo and gordon brown isn't doing senate rah covers. the fourth features. the voice of sir winston chur churchi churchill. he's not crooning. >> never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. ♪ >> churchill's famous speeches rallying the nation for the bat of britain have been put to the muse music of a royal air force band. >> against the british empire and its commonwealth, lost for a thousand years, men will still say this was their finest hour.

wen jiabao is winning the nobel peace prize for fundamental human rights in china we are marking the 30th anniversary of the c-span call-in program. on this day 30 years ago, c-span open up phone lines for the first time in an event at the national press club and we have made it a mainstay of our programming ever since. we are going to celebrate you this morning by learning about our regular crawlers and reviewers who have not called in the past. -- regular callers and regular viewers who have not called in the past. why do you watch the program? give us a call. the numbers are on the screen. and good morning to you. and we have lots of news and political discussion later on in the program. we hope you will not mind listening for the first part of a program about those corian are a regular audience. would like to -- those in the regular audience. we're going to go back to the archive ensure you what the very first call looks like 30 years ago here in washington d.c. following a speech at the national press club. >> what's the name? >> we have south dakota. >> this is bob jabr frattin