“Only an open and inclusive nation can become strong and prosperous, while a nation that shuts its door to the world is bound to fall behind...A small country becomes big when it embraces the world...The world today is an open one.

“China’s opening up policy is a long-term one. Opening up has brought great benefits to more than one billion Chinese. To deviate from this policy will only impede China’s development and we will lose popular support.

“When the European countries embarked on the path of capitalist (and) Industrial Revolution, the Chinese rulers at the time dismissed Western science and technology as “clever but useless.” In the 100 years after, ...China was left far behind in development and its international standing plummeted and it became a semi-colonial country subjected to humiliation by foreign powers."

This is part of a speech made by China’s Premier Wen Jiabao at the National University of Singapore ten days ago. And Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who witnessed it while in Singapore for the ASEAN summit, wants it to be made essential reading for everyone in India.

Stressing the moral of Jiabao’s speech titled ‘Only an Open and Inclusive Nation can be Strong’ to those attending the release function of Commerce Minister Kamal Nath’s book on Thursday, the PM asked his aides to circulate copies to everyone. “I think my purpose in quoting all that is to say that all of us have an obligation... politicians, businessmen, trade unions and all other important agents of social change."

... contd.