BEIJING (AP) -- China's premier has pledged to tighten risk
controls on its banks and see that they do more to help
entrepreneurs to sustain economic growth in the face of a possible
global slowdown.

Premier Wen Jiabao said at a weekend financial planning
conference Saturday that China's financial industries are sound but
still face risks. He vows to press ahead with reforms aimed at
giving market forces more influence over lending, but no details
have been announced.

China's state-owned banks avoided the financial turmoil that
battered Western institutions, but a slump in global demand and
exports is fueling concern its relatively robust economic growth
might slow dangerously.