Mayor Michael Bloomberg is headed to China next week and while his schedule is still being worked out, the mayor says there’s one thing he must do, lest he be “derelict in his duty as mayor of New York City.”
Visit the Great Wall of China?
Distribute Big Apple keychains?
Ride the subway?
Nope.
Talk about freedom.
The mayor, at an afternoon news conference, said “there are concerns that I have — press issues, and human rights issues and transparency of financial statements — that really do matter to New Yorkers and to Americans — and there’s a forum to be able to discuss that...."
Karla Schuster
...privately and to understand where they are and what America’s like.”
Hmmm. What do you mean exactly, a reporter asked?
“Keep in mind my past career was in the news business,” the billionaire founder of Bloomberg, LP said. “I’m interested in financial disclosure and business, obviously, and we have people from all over the world who expect me to represent them and I think this is an appropriate forum.
“I think there’s some opportunities to do it privately and it would probably be more effective at getting the message across about what America thinks and what New Yorkers think is appropriate,” the mayor continued.
The mayor was quick to add, however, that the purpose of the trip “is not ..to tell them the American way is the only way.”
Press Secretary Stu Loeser, when asked with whom the mayor might be discussing these issues, said: “Important figures in Bejing.”
Bloomberg is set to leave for Bejing on Saturday and will also travel to Shanghai before heading to Bali to address a United Nations summit on climate change on Dec. 14.