EU experts: China needs adaptability

BRUSSELS / LONDON - Beijing is being urged to be mindful of the volatility of US dollars, the European debt crisis, mounting trade protectionism and even growing tensions in East Asia when ironing out next year's economic development agenda.

While continuously expecting China's steady economic expansion to be a locomotive for the European economy, European experts suggested that China's decision makers should consider "room for maneuvers" in advance, and well accommodate these "external variables" while putting domestic inflation control as top priority.

"Apart from trade protectionism and currency wars, I am quite concerned about the tensions in East Asia," Giles Merritt, secretary general of Brussels-based think tank Friends of Europe told China Daily while Beijing held its annual three-day, closed-door Central Economic Work Conference, which ended on Sunday.