This is CBS Eye on the World.

Here's John Batchelor.

This is CBS, I on the World.

I'm John Batchelor.

June 13, 2025,

a speech by the senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, at the occasion of the

120th anniversary of the birth of Chen Yun, who is identified in a new book from our colleague

Charles Burton of synopsis. And the book is The Beaver and the Dragon, How China Outmaneuvered Canada's

diplomacy, security, and sovereignty, a book that Charles and I will speak of at length later on

in the season. But right now we're concentrating on one anecdote Charles provides to illustrate

something much more fundamental about China. It's untrustworthy.

The speech again by Xi Jinping, he praised China's economic work and his function within the, quote,

leadership collectives of Mao and Deng referring to the past.

And Charles' measure in his book is that this is a reference to the merits of shared

leadership.

There was no applause on the radio address for Xi Jinping, not the helmsman Mao was, question mark. Charles, a very good evening

to you. I come to you. You tell this anecdote as an illustration of the relationship between Canada

and China over many years, but especially since the rise of the Chinese miracle. However, it also touches on how the U.S.

and all Western countries have approached China these years. We've trusted what they said about

their rise, their GDP. Instead, we have an article within these hours in the Financial Times. This is London, the growing

problem with China's unreliable numbers. Subhead, Beijing's GDP figures have drawn scrutiny for

years, but the questions have become more acute. This is an article very carefully researched

...