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China's premier pledges to cooperate with West on economy

Business Materials 2 February 2009 12:55 (UTC +04:00)

China will take all necessary measures to stimulate its economy and fuel consumer spending, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said in an interview published during his visit to Britain Monday.

The Chinese leader, who is due to have talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London Monday, was greeted by noisy protests from pro-Tibet demonstrators on his arrival in Britain Sunday.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Wen said that Beijing was considering fresh measures to boost its economy beyond the major fiscal package launched at the end of 2008, reported dpa.

Wen, who earlier visited Berlin and Brussels, is keen to reassure trading partners that China would join the west in a coordinated effort to tackle the global economic crisis, the FT said.

Although he declined to rule out explicitly a devaluation of the Chinese currency, the renminbi, he stressed that Beijing intended to keep its currency stable at a "balanced and reasonable level."

"Many people have not come to see this point ... if we have a drastic fluctuation in the exchange rate of the renminbi, it would be a big disaster."

Wen said China's economy had slowed sharply in the fourth quarter of 2008, with growth dipping to 6.8 per cent. His government hoped that a list of measures - including massive infrastructure spending and handouts to consumers - would lead to economic growth of "around 8 per cent" this year.

Wen described the reform of global financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as a priority.

He said China would take steps to "self-regulate" its carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency, but indicated that China would be reluctant to accept a "quantitative" cap on its emissions at the Copenhagen climate change conference later this year. dpa at jbl Sent via WebAccess by Tomforde MEZ 02-02-2009_09:33

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