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.

China's economy grows 9% in 2008

BEIJING:China's economy cooled to its slowest pace in seven years in 2008, expanding 9 percent year-on-year as the widening global financial crisis continued to affect the world's fastest-growing economy, official data showed Thursday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) reached 30.067 trillion yuan (4.4216 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2008, Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), told a press conference.

The 9-percent rate was the lowest since 2001, when an annual rate of 8.3 percent was recorded, and it was the first time China's GDP growth fell into the single-digit range since 2003.

The year-on-year growth rate for the fourth quarter slid to 6.8percent from 9 percent in the third quarter and 9.9 percent for the first three quarters, according to Ma.

Economic growth showed "an obvious correction" last year, but the full-year performance was still better than other countries affected by the global financial crisis, said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, or cabinet.

He attributed the fourth-quarter weakness to reduced industrial output as inventories piled up amid sharply lower foreign demand.

Exports, which accounted for about one-third of GDP, fell 2.8 percent year-on-year to 111.16 billion U.S. dollars in December. Exports declined 2.2 percent in November from a year earlier.

Economist Wang Xiaoguang, who is with the Economic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, a think tank, said the 6.8-percent growth rate in the fourth quarter was not a sign of a "hard landing," just a necessary "adjustment" from previous rapid expansion.

"This round of downward adjustment won't bottom out in just a year or several quarters but might last two or three years, which is a normal situation," said Wang.

Zhang predicted the economy will touch bottom and start to recover later this year, depending on the performance in January and February.

He forecast GDP growth of more than 8 percent for 2009, based on the assumption that domestic demand and accelerating urbanization would help cushion China from world economic conditions.

Ma said he was "fully confident about China's economy in 2009 and beyond." He characterized the "difficulties" China experienced in the fourth quarter as temporary.

Overall, the economy maintained good momentum with fast growth, stable prices, optimized structures and improved living standards, said Ma.

China's performance was better than the average growth of 3.7 percent for the world economy last year, 1.4 percent for developed countries and 6.6 percent for developing and emerging economies, he said, citing estimates of the International Monetary Fund.

"With a 9-percent rate, China actually contributed more than 20percent of global economic growth in 2008," said Ma.

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Pretrial Proceedings Start For Former Taiwan Leader Chen

TAIPEI:A Taipei court Monday began pretrial proceedings for former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, who faces corruption charges.

Chen and his wife Wu Shu-chen were charged with embezzling 104 million New Taiwan dollars (3.15 million U.S. dollars) in public funds and accepting bribes of about 9 million U.S. dollars in a land purchase deal.

Chen, who is being detained in a Taipei jail, was summoned to the proceedings at the Taipei District Court, which started at 9:30 a.m. local time (0130GMT).
The three-day process will set the agenda for the trial, which is scheduled in February.
Chen came to power eight years ago and left office in May last year.
Chen has been in custody since Nov. 12.
He was first indicted by prosecutors on Dec. 12 for money laundering and bribery while in office.
The district court decided to release him without bail on Dec. 13 but banned him from leaving the island. Prosecutors appealed his release on Dec. 16, and Taiwan’s High Court overruled the decision of the district court. However, it handed the case back to that lower court on Dec. 17.

The next day, the district court upheld its original verdict. The prosecution appealed again and the High Court overruled the lower court decision for a second time on Dec. 28.

Chen was returned to prison on corruption charges following a verdict by the district court on Dec. 30. The verdict allowed him to meet his lawyer and family.

Chen then appealed his detention, but the High Court rejected his appeal on Jan. 7 and ruled that he must remain in jail.

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