Beijing (AsiaNews) – China is “very concerned about whether the European debt crisis can be controlled”; however, it “supports the slew of measures by EU and IMF to stabilise financial markets,” top Chinese officials said yesterday and today at the start of a series of bilateral EU-China meetings. In their view, a stable Europe is in China’s best interest.
“We want to see if the EU is able to control sovereign debt risks and whether consensus can be translated into real action to enable Europe to emerge from the financial crisis soon and in a good shape,” Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said.
“China has taken concrete actions to help some European countries deal with their sovereign debt crisis,” China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan said as he urged Europe to turn words into deeds. “The EU has taken active measures to deal with the debt crisis, and we hope the measures can achieve some results as soon as possible,” he added.
The meetings are part of the annual dialogue between China and the European Union on trade.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs are all three present at the meetings.
Beijing’s concern is no accident because strengthening cooperation between China and the European Union is in its direct interest. In the past two years in fact, the Chinese government has sunk a considerable amount of its US$ 2.65 trillion reserves in euros and naturally wants to protect its investments in the Old Continent.