Visit a boost to Europe economy

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang meets Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during a signing ceremony at Madrid's Moncloa Palace on Wednesday. [Photo/Agencies]

The first overseas trip by one of China's top leaders this year has already yielded positive diplomatic and business results.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who is on a three-nation European tour, has pledged to help Europe tackle its debt crisis.

In Madrid on Wednesday, Li told a breakfast meeting that China and Spain had signed agreements worth $7.5 billion (5.7 billion euros), a welcome boost for Spain's recession-hit economy.

The deals, which cover 16 programs, reportedly involve the banking, energy, transportation and telecommunications sectors.

The Spanish daily El Mundo said they include Spanish flight simulator manufacturer Indra, and the Spanish branch of Vodafone.

On Wednesday, Li also met Spanish King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez.

Li's visit, which began on Jan 4 and will end on Jan 12, will also cover Germany and the United Kingdom.

In addition to the Spanish deal, the Chinese delegation is expected to sign agreements for clean energy and infrastructure construction, as well as interact with local students.

The European tour is being widely followed by media and observers at home and abroad.

Analysts said the deals and agreements may help revive the embattled European economy. Cooperation between the world's largest developing economy and largest developed economic bloc might also add more vigor to the global economy in 2011.

They also said the trip will help enhance China-EU political trust, while the push for more concrete economic cooperation will help drive China's economic restructuring.

China wants the EU to lift its high-tech export embargo and acknowledge China's market economy status, Li told his EU audience in Spain.

Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said Li's visit will be positive for Sino-EU relations.

As the two sides need each other more after the global financial crisis, they would want to maintain momentum in cooperation and Li's trip is in this direction, said Feng.

Feng said mutual political trust is important to both sides. For Sino-EU ties to surpass economic levels and become partners in globalization, it needs political mutual trust as well as economic cooperation.

Xing Hua, an expert on European studies with the China Institute of International Studies, said the trip will help both sides seek more common ground in the changing international political and economic scenarios. It will also promote better understanding of the necessities and importance of cooperation in certain sectors.

Analysts also said Li's visit will enhance the EU's confidence that it is still a priority of China's foreign policies, as there has been speculation a growing China has been overemphasizing ties with the United States.