FACTBOX - China-Europe Ties Ahead Of Premier Wen Jiabao's Visit

BEIJING : Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will travel to Europe from Tuesday for a week, and fighting the global financial crisis will be a top issue. Here are some facts about his visit and China-Europe relations.

Wen will first travel to Switzerland and the World Economic Forum in Davis (Jan. 27-28), followed by Germany (Jan. 28-29), the European Union headquarters in Brussels (Jan. 29), Spain (Jan.30-31), and finally Britain (Jan. 31-Feb 2).

TRADE AND ECONOMIC TIES

The nations Wen will visit, except Switzerland, are members of the 27-nation European Union. Trade between China and the EU has more than doubled since 2003, from 119 billion euros ($154 billion) that year to 300 billion euros ($388 billion) in 2007.

But the European economies are rankled by their big trade deficit with China, which has stoked anti-dumping actions and WTO complaints. The EU deficit with China climbed to a record 160 billion euros ($207 billion) in 2007. And in the first 10 months of 2008 it expanded again to reach 138.8 billion euros ($179 billion), up 5.4 billion euros on the same period last year.

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Switzerland has enjoyed a trade surplus with China, buoyed by its sales of watches and other technology. In the first half of 2008, trade between them reached 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($4.7 billion) in value, up 15.2 percent on the same period a year earlier. Switzerland had a surplus of 815 million Swiss francs ($701 million) in the first half of 2008, according to Swiss statistics.