Trade volume between China and the EU reached $425.58 billion in 2008, up 19.5 percent year on year, according to Chinese statistics. The EU has been China's biggest trading partner for several years.

Partners in technology

Feng pointed out that Wen focused on different areas while visiting different countries. For example, he stressed technological cooperation with Switzerland and Germany, political and cultural cooperation with Spain, and financial cooperation with Britain.

During talks in Bern, Wen and Hans-Rudolf Merz, President of the Swiss Confederation, agreed to launch a joint feasibility study later this year on creating a bilateral free trade zone as part of their efforts to tackle the global financial crisis.

Switzerland started researching free trade agreement negotiations with China in July 2007. According to China's Ministry of Commerce, Switzerland is China's fourth biggest exporter of technology in Europe next to Germany, France and Italy. In 2008, China approved 146 technology transfer projects with Switzerland worth $310 million. By the end of last year, China had approved 1,705 such contracts valued at some $4.13 billion.

At a forum on Chinese-German economic and technological cooperation in Berlin, Wen called on European enterprises to increase their exports of technologically advanced equipment to China. This will not only help European countries overcome their economic difficulties but also meet the demands of the Chinese market, he said.

Wen said the Chinese Government invites German enterprises to play a more active role in assisting China in promoting technological innovation, upgrading industrial structure and achieving more balanced development among various regions.

Wen said trade volume between China and Germany surpassed $100 billion in 2008, doubling bilateral trade volume two years ahead of schedule. From 2005 to 2008, China imported technology worth $14.6 billion from Germany, twice as much as the 2001-2004 figure.

During Wen's stay in Germany, China and Germany signed a memorandum of understanding on maglev technology transfer. They also inked deals on cooperation in the auto industry and the construction of a Chinese ecological city. In addition, Wen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that China would send a purchasing group to Germany as soon as possible.

Relations between China and Spain are at their best since the two countries established a "comprehensive strategic partnership" in 2005, according to a joint statement issued during Wen's visit to Spain.

China will support the Spanish cultural center in Beijing in teaching the Spanish language and promoting Spanish culture, as well as set up a Chinese cultural center in Spain. China will sponsor a year of the Chinese language in Spain, while Spain will sponsor a year of the Spanish language in China. They also pledged to strengthen exchanges between their academic and research institutions and media organizations.

Curbing financial woes

HARMONY IN DIVERSITY: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks at the University of Cambridge on February 2. In his speech, Wen urged countries to learn from other cultures and be more tolerant of those different from their own (YAO DAWEI)

China and Britain called for international cooperation to cope with the global financial crisis in a joint statement released during Wen's visit to London. They vowed to implement the declaration from last November's global financial summit in Washington, while considering the London financial summit in April a vital opportunity that countries must seize.

The two countries agreed to continue close cooperation on improving the regulation, transparency and integrity of financial markets to strengthen the healthy functioning of the financial system while safeguarding its stability, the statement said.

They called for effective and comprehensive reform of the international financial system. The international community should establish a multilateral surveillance and early warning mechanism to prevent future crises, the statement said. Reforms should include a greater voice and representation for emerging and developing economies in international financial institutions.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a strategy document on relations with China entitled "UK-China, a Framework of Engagement" just a few days before Wen's visit.

In his foreword to the document, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote that during the global economic crisis, Britain needs China to play a full role if it is to "restore confidence, growth and jobs and make real progress toward creating an open, flexible and robust global economy."

Britain's investment in China is larger than that of any other EU country. By November 2008, it had invested in 6,164 projects in China worth $15.6 billion in actual investment.

The release of the document indicated Britain's eagerness to cozy up to China, said Li Weiwei, Deputy Director of the Department for EU Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. Given its severe economic slowdown and the plummeting approval rating of the ruling Labor Party, the British Government shows great interest in cooperating with China, she said.