Germany, China face joint wrestle with euro debt crisis

　Germany continues to be the dominant economic power in Europe, but struggles with the debt burdens of the rest of the continent as it tries to maintain the euro. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent visit to China is being taken as a sign of Germany's strong economic interdependence with China. But can Germany keep Europe afloat? Will Germans buck against new measures? Experts discussed these issues at the Third China-Germany Media Forum held in Chengdu from August 31 to September 4.

　　Mei Ninghua, president of Beijing Daily

The crisis has undoubtedly expanded to the world and affected China. The EU, as a whole, is the biggest economic bloc in the world and the biggest trading partner of China. China's export and import volume has seen a decline since the euro crisis.

Germany plays an important part in the crisis. It has helped a lot, but simply depending on Germany doesn't help much. The euro crisis didn't come in a day. It reflected the contradiction between the development mode of Europe and its economic structure.

Take Iceland. The entire country was dependent on the financial sector, while the high social welfare and the weakness of government administration are to blame for its current dilemma.

The tendency in Europe currently is to overemphasize the high end of industries, which have developed into a virtual economy, especially at the Internet era. The problem of non-industry in Europe is very serious. This cannot be simply resolved by austerity.

The austerity measures will be objected to by ordinary people. Governments are not able to sustain that. The development mode of Europe, if not changed fundamentally, will only enlarge the scale of its debt rather than reduce it.

The EU has 27 member countries. It is difficult for them to reach a consensus on reform.

If China is to buy the euro debt, it should have reliable insurance. The EU should have a sincere attitude toward China and should offer China worthwhile assets.

　　Chen Tong, editor-in-chief of Sina

Two years ago, China was just observing the Europe debt crisis, but now it is greatly affected. Germany's attitude on the crisis is also different from two years ago. At that time, Germans didn't realize the seriousness of the crisis.

Merkel just visited China, and her purpose was simple: seeking support. In the past, once there was a problem, Germany discussed with France, but now, it realizes that cooperating with China is a way to alleviate the debt crisis.

The Chinese market is the biggest overseas market for Germany and China has surpassed the US as the biggest investor in Germany.

China and Germany are complementary. China needs technology while Germany needs investment and market.

　　Ding Gang, senior editor with the People's Daily

Currently, people are discussing that how China can give money to Europe. What kind of aid should China use? How much money should China give? What terms should Greece, Spain or some other countries comply with?

There is an old Chinese saying: It is not a real problem if it can be solved by money.

You can give enough money to Greeks and Spanish. But how can you make them work as hard as Germans, or even harder?

Sabine Christiansen, Germany's top talk show host

Northern European countries are different from Southern European countries. Germans have an awareness of suffering while the Southern Europeans will say "our lives are great, although we don't have as much money as you, we are living a slow-paced life and aren't like you guys, who don't know how to enjoy life."

Germany is discussing the future of the euro, and it's very controversial in the country whether the central bank should buy more debt from the Southern European countries. Merkel supports purchasing more debt, but this means Germans have to pay more tax, which people are very unhappy with.

　　Joachim Dorfs, editor-in-chief of the Stuttgarter Zeitung

If we only look at this from a German perspective, it's difficult to deal with the problems that Southern European countries are facing. This is a deep problem that has affected a wide area.

Our specific way out is to establish a stronger budgeting system for the EU. All countries can transfer their financial capability to Brussels and the EU through this system. We should break away from the old pattern in which national budgets are measured by national boundaries and national sovereignty. However, an oak is not felled in one stroke.

　　Chen Hua, president of Sichuan Radio and Television

People in each European country have their own ways of life, values and dreams. It would be hard to turn a Greek into a German. Similarly, the culture of China is completely different from that of some European countries.

For example, the Chinese are used to working for a long time. If you ask a Chinese to invest his money in somewhere that values leisure, he probably will feel insecure.

Such cultural differences are hard to change.