BEIJING - China said on Tuesday that it believes Europe can overcome its economic difficulties.

The statement came after Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC had cut the sovereign debt ratings of nine eurozone countries and of the region's bailout fund.

The wave of downgrades, among having other effects, lowered France's AAA status and underscored European leaders' inability to come up with a plan to deal with their countries' 2-year-old debt crisis.

Beijing's comments came as official figures on Tuesday showed that China's growth slowed to 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, a time when the demand from important export markets in the United States and Europe declined.

As European leaders prepared to meet on January 30 to discuss a new fiscal pact, the Foreign Ministry said it would continue to support their efforts to fight the financial turmoil.

"Europe's economic growth is closely related to the world economic recovery," said Liu Weimin, spokesman for the ministry. "We appreciate European countries' important efforts to stabilize the market and promote economic growth.

"We believe the European countries will be able to overcome the current difficulties, and China is ready to work with the international community to continue to support the efforts of Europe in fighting the sovereign debt issue."

Beijing has watched with increasing concern as the debt crisis becomes more serious in Europe - a market to which China sends many exports - and has repeatedly encouraged it to quickly gain control of the situation.

European leaders have called on China, which has the largest foreign- exchange reserves in the world, to invest in a bailout fund. But China has so far made no firm commitment to providing financial assistance.

AFP