EU, Asian leaders meet to discuss financial crisis
The global financial meltdown is injecting a sense of urgency into a summit of European and Asian leaders that gets under way in China's capital on Friday.
By Agencies |
BEIJING: The global financial meltdown is injecting a sense of urgency into a summit of European and Asian leaders that gets under way in China's capital on Friday.
EU Commission President Jose Barroso set the tone early, saying ``unprecedented levels of global coordination'' were needed to deal with the crisis.
``It's very simple: We swim together, or we sink together,'' Barroso said Thursday at a Beijing news conference ahead of meetings with top Chinese leaders.
Held every two years, the Asia-Europe Meeting - known as ASEM - has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
That may be too lofty a goal for a 43-nation grouping whose members differ widely on their views toward international cooperation and intervention by global bodies. Free-trading Singapore and economic powerhouse Germany are attending, but so too are isolated, impoverished Myanmar and landlocked, authoritarian Laos.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to use the ASEM meeting to persuade Asian nations to sign up to a plan to redraw the rule book for international capitalism, calling for a global system of regulation.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao echoed the need for changes to the current system.
``We need to explore the possibilities of reforming the international economic structure ... (to) stabilize the international financial markets, and ensure the stable operation of the international economy,'' he said.
China and other Asian economies are expected to take a major hit from a drop in exports and foreign investment, even though their banks had less direct exposure to the toxic sub-prime mortgages that are wreaking havoc on U.S. and European markets.
The vice president of one of China's main state-owned lenders said he expected the crisis to start to bite over the next six months.
``We shouldn't think this is going to be over soon. The key issue for Asian countries is to prevent the banking crisis from turning into a currency crisis,'' the Bank of China's Zhu Min said in remarks to the Asia-Europe Business Forum in Beijing.
``This is going to be a long and cold winter,'' Zhu said.
EU Commission President Jose Barroso set the tone early, saying ``unprecedented levels of global coordination'' were needed to deal with the crisis.
``It's very simple: We swim together, or we sink together,'' Barroso said Thursday at a Beijing news conference ahead of meetings with top Chinese leaders.
Held every two years, the Asia-Europe Meeting - known as ASEM - has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
That may be too lofty a goal for a 43-nation grouping whose members differ widely on their views toward international cooperation and intervention by global bodies. Free-trading Singapore and economic powerhouse Germany are attending, but so too are isolated, impoverished Myanmar and landlocked, authoritarian Laos.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to use the ASEM meeting to persuade Asian nations to sign up to a plan to redraw the rule book for international capitalism, calling for a global system of regulation.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao echoed the need for changes to the current system.
``We need to explore the possibilities of reforming the international economic structure ... (to) stabilize the international financial markets, and ensure the stable operation of the international economy,'' he said.
China and other Asian economies are expected to take a major hit from a drop in exports and foreign investment, even though their banks had less direct exposure to the toxic sub-prime mortgages that are wreaking havoc on U.S. and European markets.
The vice president of one of China's main state-owned lenders said he expected the crisis to start to bite over the next six months.
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``We shouldn't think this is going to be over soon. The key issue for Asian countries is to prevent the banking crisis from turning into a currency crisis,'' the Bank of China's Zhu Min said in remarks to the Asia-Europe Business Forum in Beijing.
``This is going to be a long and cold winter,'' Zhu said.
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