Leadership Quote by Wu Yi

"No timetable yet" is the politician's three-word fortress: it sounds like information while functionally withholding it. Wu Yi's line, about reforming the yuan, is a masterclass in strategic vagueness - a way to acknowledge global pressure without granting outsiders the one thing they want most from Beijing: predictability.

The specific intent is to calm multiple audiences at once. To foreign governments and investors, it signals, yes, reform is on the table, we hear you, we are not in denial. To domestic power centers - exporters, provincial leaders, state-owned enterprises, and a public primed to read currency moves as national pride - it promises nothing that could trigger panic or look like capitulation. The phrase "as for when" performs a subtle concession that timing is the battleground, then immediately removes the battleground from view.

Context matters: Wu Yi operated in an era when the yuan's value was treated as both economic policy and geopolitical instrument, with Washington and others accusing China of keeping its currency artificially cheap. Currency reform isn't a technocratic tweak; it's a redistribution of pain. A stronger yuan can squeeze factories and jobs even as it lowers import costs and cools inflation. By refusing a schedule, Wu preserves room for internal bargaining and for the Party's core preference: control over tempo.

The subtext is sovereignty. Not "we won't reform", but "we will decide when, and you won't watch the clock". That's how a state keeps leverage while appearing reasonable.