Minister says confident in Greek crisis outcome

BEIJING - China is confident that Greece's economy will turn around with the hard work of all parties, a deputy foreign minister said on Monday.

Greeks overwhelmingly rejected conditions of a rescue package from creditors on Sunday, throwing the future of the country's euro zone membership into further doubt and deepening a standoff with lenders.

Deputy Chinese Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said that he believed the Greek debt crisis would be "appropriately resolved".

"I believe that with the hard efforts of all sides, Greece's economic situation will turn around. The economic crisis will be appropriately handled," he told reporters, in China's first official comment since the Greek vote.

"Whether or not it can be appropriately handled will not only have an important impact on Greece and its people, but will have an important impact on ... the world too."