Global economic outlook grim: China vice-premier

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Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan said the global economic outlook remains grim, and that China and the United States should work together to achieve balanced economic growth.

"Global economic conditions remain grim, and ensuring economic recovery is the overriding priority," Wang said during trade talks with the United States in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Monday.

Wang, who overseas China's financial and trade policies, said over the weekend that a long-term global recession was certain to happen and China must focus on its domestic problems.

Wang also said that China and the United States should work together to achieve balanced economic growth.

"An unbalanced recovery would be better than a balanced recession," he said.

The United States and some other countries have stepped up calls for China to allow the yuan to rise at a faster pace to rebalance the global economy.

China has repeatedly rejected such calls, instead asking the United States to cut its fiscal deficit and boost savings.

President Barack Obama met his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao twice over the past week, both times discussing barriers to trade among other issues. Obama said China was now 'grown up' and should act that way in international affairs.

China's official reaction has been restrained, with an impending leadership succession preoccupying the Communist Party and leaving it anxious to avoid diplomatic fireworks.