Wen pledges his support for debt-stricken Europe
Source: Agencies |
July 17, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
China will stick with the policies that cooled economic growth last quarter and will keep faith with the euro despite Europe's debt problems, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday.
At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Wen said the world's third-largest economy was heading in the direction that the government wanted.
"We will maintain policy continuity and stability and continue to put into effect a proactive fiscal policy and an appropriately loose monetary policy," Wen said.
He was speaking a day after China reported a moderation in annual gross domestic product growth to 10.3 percent in the second quarter from 11.9 percent in the first three months of the year.
The premier attributed the slowdown to a high base of comparison in 2009 and to his government's macro-economic controls, which include steps to limit lending to property developers, home buyers and indebted local governments.
Policymakers would strive to implement the controls more flexibly and to target them better, Wen said.
"Generally speaking, we must maintain steady and relatively fast economic growth and further increase the driving force of domestic demand in the economic recovery," he said.
Wen also offered his support to the euro zone, which is battling to regain investor confidence after Greece had to be bailed out in April by the single currency bloc, fanning fears about other heavily indebted European governments.
"I want to say that at this time, when some European countries are suffering sovereign debt crises, China has always held out a helping hand," he said.
China supports the economic stabilization efforts of European governments and hopes they will succeed in nursing their public finances back to normal as soon as possible, Wen added.
"We believe that with the joint hard work of the international community, Europe will certainly overcome its difficulties," he said.
China is a responsible, long-term investor that has always pursued the principle of diversifying its investments, Wen said. "The European market has been in the past, is now and will be in the future one of the main investment markets for China's foreign exchange reserves."
Merkel welcomed Wen's support. "It's an important signal that China, too, has made it clear that it has confidence in the euro," she said.
Chinese and German companies signed deals worth billions of dollars to make trucks and power equipment yesterday as the prime ministers declared their countries' economies had recovered from last year's recession.
Among the contracts signed after their talks was a US$3.5 billion deal between Siemens AG and the Shanghai Electric Power Generation Equipment Co to develop steam and gas turbines, and a new 6.35 billion yuan (US$936 million) venture between Daimler AG and Beiqi Foton Motor Co to make trucks.
One new opportunity China and Germany are exploring is clean-energy technologies. The two countries agreed to set up a 124 million euro (US$159 million) fund to encourage companies to save energy and cut harmful emissions.
Merkel said EU will discuss the issue of recognizing China's market status in September. China has said the move would help it avoid punishing anti-dumping measures.
"From the point of view of the German government, China has to meet requirements in two fields," she said. "The first is the (intellectual property rights) issue, and we have discussed this with the Chinese government for a long time. The second is the issue of free market access. We hope German companies can get equal access to the Chinese market with other companies."
Merkel later met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and visited the Central Party School.
At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Wen said the world's third-largest economy was heading in the direction that the government wanted.
"We will maintain policy continuity and stability and continue to put into effect a proactive fiscal policy and an appropriately loose monetary policy," Wen said.
He was speaking a day after China reported a moderation in annual gross domestic product growth to 10.3 percent in the second quarter from 11.9 percent in the first three months of the year.
The premier attributed the slowdown to a high base of comparison in 2009 and to his government's macro-economic controls, which include steps to limit lending to property developers, home buyers and indebted local governments.
Policymakers would strive to implement the controls more flexibly and to target them better, Wen said.
"Generally speaking, we must maintain steady and relatively fast economic growth and further increase the driving force of domestic demand in the economic recovery," he said.
Wen also offered his support to the euro zone, which is battling to regain investor confidence after Greece had to be bailed out in April by the single currency bloc, fanning fears about other heavily indebted European governments.
"I want to say that at this time, when some European countries are suffering sovereign debt crises, China has always held out a helping hand," he said.
China supports the economic stabilization efforts of European governments and hopes they will succeed in nursing their public finances back to normal as soon as possible, Wen added.
"We believe that with the joint hard work of the international community, Europe will certainly overcome its difficulties," he said.
China is a responsible, long-term investor that has always pursued the principle of diversifying its investments, Wen said. "The European market has been in the past, is now and will be in the future one of the main investment markets for China's foreign exchange reserves."
Merkel welcomed Wen's support. "It's an important signal that China, too, has made it clear that it has confidence in the euro," she said.
Chinese and German companies signed deals worth billions of dollars to make trucks and power equipment yesterday as the prime ministers declared their countries' economies had recovered from last year's recession.
Among the contracts signed after their talks was a US$3.5 billion deal between Siemens AG and the Shanghai Electric Power Generation Equipment Co to develop steam and gas turbines, and a new 6.35 billion yuan (US$936 million) venture between Daimler AG and Beiqi Foton Motor Co to make trucks.
One new opportunity China and Germany are exploring is clean-energy technologies. The two countries agreed to set up a 124 million euro (US$159 million) fund to encourage companies to save energy and cut harmful emissions.
Merkel said EU will discuss the issue of recognizing China's market status in September. China has said the move would help it avoid punishing anti-dumping measures.
"From the point of view of the German government, China has to meet requirements in two fields," she said. "The first is the (intellectual property rights) issue, and we have discussed this with the Chinese government for a long time. The second is the issue of free market access. We hope German companies can get equal access to the Chinese market with other companies."
Merkel later met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and visited the Central Party School.
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