Britons are 'lethargic' and 'keen to profits', China’s official says

Britain's "idleness -inducing" work ethic and belief on advantages are to fault for the ongoing economic recession, a senior Chinese officer has said.

Chairman of China Investment Corporation (CIC), Jin Liqun the country's autonomous wealth fund, cautioned that Europeans should "work a bit harder" if they would like to drag the Eurozone out of decline.

He said people in the West are too dependent on welfare payments and the benefits system, looking for outsider way outs to the debt crisis rather than handling the problem from within.

Mr. Jin also said the long-term economic decrease could only be resolved by changing the preventive labor regulations that mean Western employees are not able to fight in worldwide markets.

He told Channel Four News: "Europe is not actually short of funds. Europe requires giving a clear portrait to the Europeans themselves and to the rest of the world that their difficulties could be worked out.

"The main reason of the problem is the over-loaded welfare system, urbanized since the Second World War in Europe - the laziness-inducing, lethargy-inducing labor laws.

"People require working a bit harder, they need to work a bit in lengthy hours, and they should be more modernized. We (the Chinese) work like passionate.

"European states have a lot of benefits. They just need to tap these benefits and they will be returned on their feet."

This is not the first time Mr. Jin has aired his analysis on the inner workings of Western financial system.

Previous month, at a forum managed by The Economist magazine, he said he was "worried about the unraveling of the circumstances" in Europe.

He told guests he was "regret if I have disturbed feathers", adding: "China cannot be likely to purchase into high danger in the eurozone without a obvious portrait of debt solution programs."

Mr. Jin, a graduate of Boston University, was earlier China's deputy finance minister and vice-president of the Asian Development Bank.

He is now chairman of CIC, China's autonomous wealth fund, which has a budget of around $300 billion.