China-EU summit postponed

The China-EU summit that was originally slated for next Tuesday in China's northern port city of Tianjin will be postponed due to the tight schedule of EU leaders to deal with the eurozone debt crisis. In a phone call with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said he could not travel to China next week since he and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso need to attend a series of EU meetings at the weekend over the eurozone debt crisis, which is at its crucial moment. He apologized to Premier Wen for the inconvenience that the postponement of the summit could bring to the Chinese side. Van Rompuy said the EU pays high attention to cooperation with China and thanked China for its long-time support. He said the EU is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China to cope with challenges together and promote EU-China ties. For his part, Wen expressed understanding to the EU side's decision to postpone the summit. Wen said the eurozone debt crisis is not just closely related to the unstable recovery of the global economy against the backdrop of the international financial crisis, but also is a result of long-term accumulation of internal problems within the EU and the euro zone. Wen suggested fundamental financial reforms in addition to emergency bailout measures. The most important thing right now is to adopt decisive measures to prevent the debt crisis to spill over and avoid the turbulence of the euro, the shrinking of the market and a serious economic recession, Wen said. The Chinese premier also highlighted the significance of international cooperation in the global financial and debt crisis, saying that China supports EU's efforts to cope with the crisis and stands ready to beef up coordination and cooperation with the EU to contribute to a global economic recovery. The two sides agreed to keep contact on the new arrangements of the 14th China-EU summit.