BEIJING: China said Tuesday it believes Europe can overcome its economic difficulties, after Standard & Poor's cut the sovereign debt ratings of nine eurozone countries and the region's bailout fund.
The wave of downgrades, including that of France's triple-A status, underscored European leaders' inability to come up with a solid plan to tackle their two-year-old debt crisis.
Beijing's comments come as official figures Tuesday showed China's economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 8.9 percent as demand from key export markets in the United States and Europe fell.
As European leaders prepared to meet on January 30 to discuss a new fiscal pact, China's foreign ministry said it would continue to support their efforts to fight the financial turmoil.
"Europe's economic growth is closely related to the world economic recovery. We appreciate European countries' important efforts to stabilise the market and promote economic growth," said spokesman Liu Weimin.
"We believe the European countries will be able to overcome the current difficulties, and China is ready to work with the international community to continue to support the efforts of Europe in fighting the sovereign debt issue."
Beijing has watched with increasing concern as the debt crisis has deepened in Europe, China's top export market, and has repeatedly urged it to quickly get a grip on the situation.
European leaders have called on China, which has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, to invest in a bailout fund, but China has so far made no firm commitment to provide financial assistance.
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