溫家寶今日將出席達沃斯世界經(jīng)濟論壇

WEN TOUR OF EUROPE LOOKS AT CHINA'S ROLE

Wen Jiabao, China's premier, yesterday began a tour of European capitals that will explore ways to involve China in efforts to tackle the world's economic crisis.

Beijing, which has described Mr Wen's trip as a “tour of confidence,” hopes it will help dispel some of the questions about the impact of the crisis on China's rapidly slowing economy. There are also hopes that it will boost relations damaged by the cancellation of a EU-China summit last month.

EU representatives, keen to secure Chinese co-operation to overcome the global downturn, are pleased that Mr Wen is to meet members of the Brussels-based European Commission en bloc, a gesture which they said showed that China's leaders were paying more attention to how EU institutions work.

Mr Wen's itinerary takes in the World Economic Forum in Davos as well as Brussels, Berlin, London and Madrid. But it excludes Paris, in an apparent sign of disapproval of a meeting Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, held last year with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. That meeting prompted Beijing to cancel the EU-China summit in early December.

“It's good that the Chinese are taking the EU institutions seriously,” Graham Watson, leader of the liberals in the European parliament, told reporters. “The weakness of their position is the belief that they can split the Europeans by pointedly not visiting Paris.”

Mr Wen is expected to make the case that China's main contribution to resolving the economic crisis will be to maintain relatively high growth, fuelled partly by a fiscal spending plan.

“Demand from China and its economic growth will serve as an impetus for [the] world economy to recover from the downturn,” said a commentary by the official Xinhua news agency yesterday on Mr Wen's trip. Chinese officials are keen to avoid a broader debate about the role of currency and trade issues. Although China has run record trade surpluses during the past three months, fuelling the arguments of critics who claim its currency is undervalued, the government is under pressure at home to weaken the renminbi in order to help struggling exporters.

Officials are still smarting at comments by Timothy Geithner, the new US Treasury secretary, who told a Senate hearing last week that China was “manipulating” its currency. China's commerce ministry said, in an unusually prompt and sharply worded response, the allegation was untrue and could encourage US protectionist sentiment.

Some EU officials take the view that China's trade surplus with Europe will prove politically unsustainable in the long run, with a backlash among European politicians, business people and voters more likely the longer it continues.
 

溫家寶今日將出席達沃斯世界經(jīng)濟論壇

中國國務院總理溫家寶昨日開始對歐洲各國首都的訪問，將探討中國如何參與解決全球經(jīng)濟危機的問題。

北京將溫家寶此行形容為“信心之旅”，希望它有助于驅(qū)散一些有關(guān)危機對中國迅速放緩的經(jīng)濟造成什么影響的疑問，也希望此行能推進因上月歐中峰會取消而受損的雙方關(guān)系。

歐盟代表們渴望得到中國的合作，以共同克服全球衰退。他們對溫家寶將會見總部位于布魯塞爾的歐盟委員會(European Commission)全體成員感到高興。他們表示，這一姿態(tài)表明中國領(lǐng)導人正對歐盟機構(gòu)的運作方式給予更多的關(guān)注。

溫家寶行程包括在達沃斯出席世界經(jīng)濟論壇(World Economic Forum)，以及訪問布魯塞爾、柏林、倫敦和馬德里，但不包含巴黎，這是一個明顯的信號，顯示出對法國總統(tǒng)尼古拉•薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)去年會晤流亡西藏精神領(lǐng)袖達賴喇嘛的不滿。那次會晤促使中國政府取消了原定于去年12月初舉行的歐中峰會。

“中國正認真對待歐盟機構(gòu)，這是好事，”歐洲議會自由派領(lǐng)袖格雷厄姆•沃森(Graham Watson)對記者們表示，“他們立場的不足之處，是以為通過故意不訪問巴黎，可以分裂歐洲人。”

預計溫家寶將闡述，中國在解決全球經(jīng)濟危機上的主要貢獻，將是自身保持相對快速的增長，這在一定程度上是受到一項財政支出計劃的推動。

官方通訊社新華社昨日就溫家寶訪歐發(fā)表評論稱：“中國的增長和需求必將為全球經(jīng)濟早日復蘇做出重要貢獻。”中國官員希望避免在貨幣作用及貿(mào)易問題上引發(fā)更廣泛的爭論。盡管過去3個月中國實現(xiàn)了創(chuàng)紀錄的貿(mào)易順差，令批評中國低估本幣的論調(diào)升溫，但中國政府在國內(nèi)正面臨要求人民幣貶值的壓力，以幫助苦苦掙扎的出口企業(yè)。

中國官員們?nèi)詾槊绹氯呜旈L蒂姆•蓋特納(Timothy Geithner)的有關(guān)評論感到不快。蓋特納上周在參議院聽證會上表示，中國正在“操縱”匯率。中國商務部迅速做出尖銳的、與常態(tài)不同的回應，稱這種說法不實，并且可能助長美國的保護主義情緒。

一些歐盟官員認為，從長遠來看，中國對歐貿(mào)易順差在政治層面上是不可持續(xù)的，持續(xù)得越久，就越有可能引發(fā)歐洲政界、商界和選民的抵觸情緒。