China's aim - first to recover from crisis - Wen

CHINA: China aims to become the first nation to recover from the global economic crisis, Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as saying by state media yesterday.

Wen made the remark over the weekend while touring Jiangsu province in eastern China, one of the export-dependent regions that have taken a heavy beating in recent months, the China Daily reported.

"Our aim is to be the first to recover from the financial crisis. We must have faith and determination," Wen was quoted as saying by the paper.

China's economy grew by just nine percent in the third quarter of last year, the lowest level since mid-2003.

This year, economic growth in China could slow to 7.5 percent, a level not seen since 1990, according to the World Bank.

China unveiled a four-trillion-yuan (590-billion-dollar) spending package in late 2008 to revive the economy.

"Our measures have already taken effect," Wen said according to the paper, adding that the economic data for December was "better than expected."

None of the major macroeconomic key figures for last month has been released yet, and they may not be made public until a major news conference for the economic performance in 2008 expected some time next week.

Wen suggested more efforts were coming up to spur growth in the Chinese economy, the China Daily said. The government will expedite the investment of 600 billion yuan into six major projects already approved as part of a master plan for scientific and technological development, Wen was quoted as saying.

He did not specify what projects he was referring to, but the paper noted that the manned space programme and a locally-built jumbo passenger aircraft were part of the government's master plan.

Beijing, Monday, AFP