Wen's new priorities

By and large, Premier Wen Jiabao's report on government work is a sensible one to get things done, a style in keeping with his and his comrades' images as pragmatic troubleshooters.

We have little doubt about high approval ratings for Wen's report, in the National People's Congress, at the parallel annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and on the street.

The Wen Cabinet has proved faithful to the promises made in its report last year. Not everything has been done well enough, as Wen himself acknowledged yesterday. But from the day-to-day operation of the central government, we are convinced that the leaders have tried hard.