China should not underestimate the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis, but it would be limited on China's economy, said Zhang Yansheng, director of the Institute of Foreign Trade under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Europe is now China's largest trade partner and export destination, accounting for 20 percent of the country's total exports, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs.

Shrinking trade volume last year affected China's GDP by 3.9 percentage points due to the global financial crisis, but the impact of the ongoing European debt crisis on China's foreign trade would not exceed that level, Zhang said at the 11th Monthly Economic Talk held by China Center for International Economic Exchanges on Thursday.

It would be fine for China's GDP to grow by 8.7 to 9.2 percent this year, he said.

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