SALON

Thursday, Aug 30, 2012 6:30 AM UTC

China’s Wen says global crisis worsening

By

Topics: From the Wires,

China's Wen says global crisis worseningChinese soldiers prepare for the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, unseen outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)(Credit: Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday that the impact of the global economic crisis is worsening, and called during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for closer cooperation to revive growth.

Merkel was in Beijing for talks with Wen and other Chinese leaders aimed at expanding trade and allaying fears about Europe’s debt problems. The visit comes as global growth slows and China struggles to reverse its deepest economic slump since the 2008 crisis.

Wen said he had increased confidence in the eurozone after being briefed by Merkel but expressed concern about European debt and said Italy, Greece and Spain must increase their determination to reform.

“The impact of the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis on the world is continuously deepening,” Wen said during a meeting with Merkel.

“As important economies and strategic partners, China and Germany should make consistent efforts on promoting the confidence of the international community, joining together in dealing with challenges and creating a better tomorrow.”

Later, Wen told reporters: “Recently, the European debt crisis has continued to worsen, giving rise to serious concerns in the international community. Frankly speaking, I am also worried.”

Wen and Merkel presided at a signing ceremony for billions of dollars in business deals — a regular event during visits by European leaders.

Airbus Industrie committed to invest $1.6 billion in the second phase of an aircraft final assembly plant opened in 2008 in Tianjin, Wen’s hometown. A Chinese state company signed an agreement to purchase 50 Airbus jetliners valued at $3.5 billion.

Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest automaker, signed a deal to invest $219 million in an “environmentally friendly production facility” and vocational training initiative, also in Tianjin.

Officials of the two governments also signed agreements to collaborate in biotechnology, electric vehicles, agriculture, education, labor and the environment.

A round of regular Chinese-German meetings was scheduled for next year, but German officials say Wen asked Merkel to come early before the Communist Party begins a once-a-decade handover of power to younger leaders in October.

Merkel’s two-day visit includes meetings with Xi Jinping, who is due to become party leader and president, and Li Keqiang, in line to become premier.

The German leader was accompanied by a 20-member delegation of executives from German companies in the auto, chemicals, energy, commodities and other industries.

The meetings come amid tension over a request by European manufacturers of solar power equipment for anti-dumping duties on Chinese products they say are improperly subsidized. Chinese manufacturers that depend on the European market have warned Beijing might retaliate.

Germany is China’s biggest European trading partner and one of the few developed economies with which it runs a trade deficit, due to large imports of German factory equipment and industrial components. Beijing reported a $16.3 billion trade deficit with Germany last year and $13 billion for the first seven months of this year.

German officials told reporters in Berlin that Merkel wants to assure Beijing that European debt is a “safe and good investment.”

The visit focuses mostly on economic issues, but a senior German official told reporters he expects an “open discussion” with Chinese leaders on Syria, which is in the throes of a civil war that has left an estimated 20,000 people dead. Russia and China have repeatedly used their veto power in the U.N. Security Council to block strong Western- and Arab-backed action against President Bashar Assad’s regime that could have led to sanctions.

Germany hopes a Security Council agreement on humanitarian issues could help provide a basis for a stronger agreement on political questions, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

___

AP writer Geir Moulson in Berlin and APTN producer Aritz Parra in Beijing contributed.

More JOE McDONALD.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations