Another Shot Across Asia's Bow

A shocking announcement by China's Premier Wen Jiabao that his country's growth was "unstable and environmentally unsustainable" sent markets in Asia into the red Friday, reversing earlier gains. Since the beginning of the year, China's premier has become increasingly critical in public of the country's economy. But Friday's comments included the most severe criticism yet.

"China's investment growth is too high, lending growth too fast, liquidity excessive, and trade and international payments very imbalanced," Wen said, Bloomberg reports. "The biggest problem in China's economy is that the growth is unstable, imbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable."

The timing of the announcement is reminiscent of Wen's Chinese New Year holiday declaration at the end of February to crack down on corruption and fraud on local stock exchanges. Many say that was responsible for the massive 8.8% declines in the Shanghai stock exchange on Feb. 27, as fears brewed over the holidays while the markets were shut. ...