The
EU ambassador to China said Monday the Asian powerhouse could become Europe's
biggest export market this year, overtaking the United States, as Beijing
boosts domestic demand.
His comments come after Premier Wen Jiabao
said China was considering helping the crisis-hit eurozone by contributing to
regional bailout funds, and that a stable Europe was crucial for Beijing.
"There are indications that in 2012,
China may become Europe's biggest export market," Markus Ederer told
reporters in Beijing.
"European exports are growing at a higher
pace than European imports from China," he said, adding the forecast was
based on current trade trends. He gave no concrete figures.
The European Union has long been the biggest
market for Chinese goods, and trade between the two grows every year, reaching
$567 billion in 2011.
But while Chinese exports to the European
Union grew by 14.5 percent last year from 2010, the Asian country's imports of
European goods rose at a higher rate of 25.6 percent in 2011, according to
official Chinese data.
Beijing is increasingly looking to reduce its
dependency on exports and focus more on domestic demand.
But its economy -- which grew at a rate of 9.2
percent last year, down from 10.4 percent in 2010 -- is still export-driven and
Beijing has watched with increasing concern as Europe's debt crisis deepened,
impacting its growth.
Last week, Wen said solving the crisis --
which has seen a wave of credit-rating downgrades and brought Greece to the
brink of bankruptcy -- was "urgent" and urged global cooperation on
the issue.
After talks with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, who was on a trip aimed at boosting her hosts' confidence in Europe,
Wen said China "was investigating and evaluating ways" to become more
involved in solving Europe's debt problem.
European leaders have repeatedly called on
China, which has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves at around $3.2
trillion, to invest in a bailout fund, but Beijing has so far made no firm
commitment.
Any move to bail out wealthier European
nations using public funds would likely face strong resistance in China, where
millions still live on less than a dollar a day.
After raising the possibility of a
contribution during Merkel's visit, Wen told businesses in the southern
manufacturing hub of Guangdong at the weekend that Europe was important for
China.
"Helping stability in the European market
is actually helping ourselves," he said.
During her visit, Merkel sought to assure
Beijing that the crisis was under control, saying the euro currency had made
Europe stronger, and pointing to an EU treaty agreed last week that aims to
stop countries from overspending.
On Monday, Ederer sought to further boost
confidence in the eurozone, and said the EU welcomed any Chinese initiatives,
"both in terms of political support and also in terms of state debt and
investment in Europe."
AFP
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