Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said yesterday that China would continue to expand its investment in the eurozone and called on Western countries facing a crippling debt crisis to “put their houses in order.”
As Europe’s struggling economies look to cash-rich China as a possible rescuer, Wen also urged EU leaders to reciprocate by according the country full market-economy status ahead of schedule.
Beijing has long demanded that the EU and the US accord China full market-economy status, a technical designation that would remove certain restrictions on Chinese exports and investments in Europe.
China has invested an increasing portion of its world-leading foreign exchange reserves in euro-denominated assets and its leaders have repeatedly expressed confidence in the region’s economies during the debt upheaval.
“China will continue to expand investment in Europe,” Wen said as he delivered the opening speech at the summer session of the World Economic Forum.
However, he added that “European Union leaders and the leaders of its [Europe’s] main countries must also courageously look at China’s relationship from a strategic viewpoint.”
“Based on the WTO rules, China’s full market-economy status will be recognized by 2016. If EU nations can demonstrate their sincerity several years earlier, it would reflect our friendship,” he said.
EU leaders have said in the past that the Asian giant has not yet met the necessary conditions, pointing out that most of China’s largest companies are state-owned and their leaders appointed by the government.
Wen also warned that the global economic recovery would be a “long” and “difficult” process, with unemployment in major economies high and emerging economies struggling to tackle inflation.
“Sovereign debt risks are growing in some countries, causing turbulence on the international financial market,” he said. “All this shows that the world economic recovery will be a long-term, difficult and complicated process.”
Wen also urged action to halt the spread of the sovereign debt crisis that has sent global markets plummeting.
China is sitting on more than US$3 trillion in foreign currency reserves and it has already committed to investing in Greece, Spain and Portugal.
“Governments should fulfill their responsibilities and put their own house in order,” Wen said. “The major developed economies should develop responsible and effective monetary policies, properly handle debt issues, ensure the safety [and] the stable operation of investment in the market, and maintain confidence of investors around the world.”
Wen’s speech in the Chinese port city of Dalian came as global markets have been rocked this week by renewed fears that Greece, which was recently given the green light for a second bailout, will default on its debt obligations.
Portugal and Ireland have also received rescue packages, while analysts have warned that Italy and Spain could follow suit, leading to warnings that the crisis could spread to other major economies.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary