China erg bezorgd over Europese economische crisis (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - China is keeping a close eye on Europe's ongoing debt crisis and has urged the bloc's policymakers to turn tough rhetoric into "real action".
The comments by China's commerce minister Chen Deming on Tuesday (21 December) come as senior EU and Chinese officials meet in Beijing for the third High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue between the two sides.
"We are very concerned about whether the European debt crisis can be controlled," Mr Chen said at a briefing during the day-long talks.
"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," he added.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels last week agreed to an EU treaty change in order to set up a permanent stability mechanism to help struggling eurozone states once the current range temporary funds come to an end in 2013.
European Politicians have faced criticism over their actions to shore up the eurozone however, with the International Monetary Fund calling for a more "comprehensive" response to the crisis earlier this month.
China does not disclose how much of its estimated $2.65 trillion in foreign reserves is invested in euros or how large its holdings of eurozone sovereign debt are.
Speaking at start of the high-level dialogue, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said Beijing backed the initiatives Europe had taken so far to secure financial stability, including bail-outs for Greece and Ireland this year.
"It is in the fundamental interests of China and the EU to further strengthen mutually beneficial economic cooperation," said Mr Wang, pointing to concrete Chinese actions to help some EU members combat their sovereign debt crises.
During a visit to Greece in October, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledged his support for the embattled country and stated China did not have plans to reduce its holding of European sovereign bonds.
Traveling to Portugal last month, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised support the southern European country but held off from making specific promises to buy Portuguese bonds.
The bilateral economic dialogue was agreed on by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso i at the 10th China-EU summit in November 2007 as a means to combat a range trade disputes and improve ties.
Mr Wang told Tuesday's meeting that trade between the two sides had rebounded sharply after a dip in 2009, with the volume for the first 11 months this year reaching $433.9 billion, up 33 percent year on year.
The EU is being represented by EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia, trade commissioner Karel De Gucht i and economy commissioner Olli Rehn i.