From Germany, with hope

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China on Thursday and Friday will be a good opportunity for her to brief China's leaders on the outcome of the European Union summit on Monday. Merkel will also argue that it is in China's interest to invest more in Europe.

The German chancellor will be pleased with the EU summit results, which endorsed Berlin's long-standing wish for more fiscal discipline in EU member states. But she will still face pressure to provide more funds for struggling Greece and to take more measures to boost domestic demand.

The summit agreed to a fiscal compact, committing signatories to introduce a "debt brake" to national legislation. The treaty aims to force eurozone countries with high debt levels to bring their budget deficits down to 0.5 percent of their economic output, which is not an easy task. New voting rules, penalties for non-compliance and EU surveillance mechanisms should ensure the new treaty has teeth. EU member states (except the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic) expect to sign the new treaty next month and it will come into force once the 12 euro countries have ratified it.