国内英语新闻:China welcomes EU steps in handling debt crisis: FM spokesman

BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that China welcomes the EU's new measures for coping with the European sovereign debt crisis worked out at the recently-concluded EU summit.

"We hope relevant measures can help stabilize the market, boost confidence in the market, stop the crisis from worsening, promote employment and economic growth, and push forward European integration," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Weimin said at a routine press briefing.

Last Friday at the summit in Brussels, EU leaders agreed on establishing a new "fiscal compact" based on inter-governmental treaties rather than the expected EU treaty changes. Britain opted out of the compact.

Under the fiscal compact, member states will have to submit their draft budgetary plans to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

As world's largest economy, the stable and healthy growth of the European Union and the Eurozone will be crucial to maintaining the momentum of recovery in the world economy, Liu said.

China will maintain its support for EU integration, and continue to back the EU's efforts in combating the debt crisis in various ways, so as to jointly promote the stability of the international financial market and the recovery and growth of the world economy, he said.

"We are confident in Europe and the Eurozone, and believe that the EU has the ability and wisdom to resolve the sovereign debt crisis," Liu said.