SHANGHAI, May 27 (Reuters) - Vice Premier Wang Qishan told a group of exporters that Beijing will seek to maintain the country's share of global export markets, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday, but it gave no details.
The ongoing global financial crisis has sharply cut overseas demand and seriously hurt Chinese economic growth, the paper quoted Wang as saying.
"But, the crisis did not change our basic opinion that China is facing with an important strategic opportunity," Wang told a meeting with major exporters in eastern province of Jiangsu on Monday, adding that enterprises should cooperate with the government to overcome the crisis.
China is trying to help its exporters, but global trade will shrink further and domestic demand cannot fully pick up the slack, the country's commerce ministry has said.
Chinese exports will remain subdued in coming months, though there are some positive signs, such as rising export orders, according to the ministry's manufacturing sector surveys.
China said earlier this month that exports fell 22.6 percent in April from a year earlier, marking their sixth straight monthly decline. (Reporting by Alfred Cang; Editing by Ken Wills)