Source: AFP
German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to reassure Beijing over the crisis in the eurozone and urged China to press Tehran on its nuclear programme as she began an official visit on Thursday.
“The euro as our common currency has made Europe stronger,” Merkel said in a speech ahead of talks with China’s premier Wen Jiabao.
“The European Union ‒ in particular those states that have adopted the euro ‒ has made considerable progress in the last two years.”
Merkel’s three-day trip is aimed partly at boosting confidence in the eurozone after a sovereign debt crisis that has seen a wave of credit-rating downgrades and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.
Europe is China’s top export market and Beijing has watched with increasing concern as the debt crisis has deepened, repeatedly urging European leaders to get a grip on the situation.
The leader of Europe’s biggest economy said EU members were now “deeply convinced” that they were on the right track with a treaty agreed by most EU nations on Monday that aims to stop countries from overspending.
The treaty ‒ pushed by Germany and the European Central Bank ‒ will require governments to introduce laws on balanced budgets and impose near-automatic sanctions on countries that violate deficit rules.
It will enter into force after at least 12 euro nations ratify it, and only those countries that sign up will be able to access bailout aid from a new rescue fund.
Merkel, who will meet President Hu Jintao on Friday, also touched on Syria in her speech, saying it was “important that the international community speak with one voice at the United Nations.”
The German leader is expected to ask for Beijing’s support for a UN Security Council resolution against Syria, where fighting between President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces and rebels is escalating.
On bilateral trade between China and Germany ‒ which reached US$169 billion in 2011, an 18.9-per cent increase from the previous year ‒ Merkel called for a level playing field for German firms operating in China.
“As German entrepreneurs, we want to be treated on an equal footing with Chinese companies,” she said.
On Friday, Merkel will fly to the southern province of Guangdong, where nearly 500 German companies are already present, with Wen and executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.
Rare earths ‒ valuable elements that are used in the production of high-tech products and which are of “very great importance for the German economy” ‒ will also be on the agenda, a German government source said.
China has been accused of deliberately restricting rare-earth exports to drive up prices and force manufacturers onto its shores, but Beijing says it limits them for environmental reasons to reduce mining-related pollution.
