China's Xi targets lower GDP, vows to help Europe

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C), and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (R) talk with California Governor Jerry Brown (L), as they attend the Phoenix Suns, Lakers NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, California February 17, 2012.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has set a lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for 2012 than previous years' 8 percent, Xi Jinping, China's president-in-waiting, said in comments published by state media on Sunday.

But Vice President Xi said in an interview with the Irish Times that the Chinese economy will not see a significant slowdown this year.

His remarks were similar to those he made before leaving the United States for Ireland.

"From this year on, we have appropriately cut economic growth targets, and this will help us to relieve pressures in terms of inflation, energy, resources and environment," Xi said, according Xinhua news agency, which published his full remarks in Chinese.

Government researchers told Reuters earlier that China has set the 2012 GDP growth target at 7.5 percent.

China's economic growth target, regarded more as a guideline than a serious goal, is made public by the premier at the annual meeting of the largely rubber stamp parliament in early March.

Xi, virtually sure to succeed Hu Jintao as China's president in just over a year, reiterated that China would support Europe in addressing its current debt woes.

Xi, who goes to Turkey after Ireland, did not make explicit commitments, but made it clear that China was willing to contribute more. Premier Wen Jiabao made a similar pledge last week.

"China will continue to, in her own way, support efforts made by the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund in solving the euro zone's debt problems," Xi said.

"China does not think one should 'talk down' or 'short' to Europe, because we believe that the difficulties facing Europe are temporary," he said.

Chinese leaders have repeatedly expressed confidence in European nations, yet they have also refrained from making firm financial commitments, urging Europe first to take further steps on its own.

Separately, China and Japan agreed on Sunday that they will jointly respond to any funding request from the IMF, which is looking to boost its war chest to help EU countries, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said in Beijing, after meeting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Finance Minister Xie Xuren.

Xi also reminded his European hosts that China, the world's second-largest economy with $3.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, remains a developing country.

"We still have 150 million people whose daily living expenses are less than $1," Xi said.

(Reporting by Zhou Xin and Ben Blanchard; Editing by David Cowell)