2010-07-22 15:33

SHANGHAI- China's presence is visible in Europe through its purchases of bonds as well as large scale investments, the European Union's trade chief said on Thursday.

"China's presence in Europe is visible across the board whether in China's recent purchase of several hundreds of millions of euros of government bonds in the euro zone, particularly Spain or Greece, or in other large-scale investments too, such as the acquisition of Volvo by the car maker Geely," European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.

Speaking at the Shanghai World Expo, he said he was confident Europe's salvage package for 860 billion euros ($1,097 billion), has been very effective in easing the sovereign debt crisis.

"I am quite confident that the euro is in good shape again."

The trade chief added that the euro zone bonds China had been buying from Spain and Greece were a good investment and would keep their value.

He estimated that China had spent around 420 million euros buying Spanish and Greek bonds, but could not confirm it.

"There is no risk at all to the Chinese treasury," he said.