The comments from Commerce Minister Chen Deming came as China and the EU held a day of wide-ranging trade talks in Beijing that touched on a number of contentious issues including intellectual property rights and market access.

"We are very concerned about whether the European debt crisis can be controlled," Chen told reporters.

"We want to see if the EU is able to control sovereign debt risks and whether consensus can be translated into real action to enable Europe to emerge from the financial crisis soon and in a good shape," he added.

Last week, EU leaders pledged to defend debt-plagued eurozone nations with a permanent bailout mechanism from mid-2013 -- the successor to a temporary, International Monetary Fund-backed trillion-dollar facility.

Greece and Ireland have both been bailed out by the EU and the IMF. Portugal, Spain, Belgium and even Italy are considered at risk by experts going into 2011. Moody's warned Tuesday it could lower Lisbon's debt rating.

China has emerged as a key player in the European debt crisis. Beijing has the world's largest foreign exchange reserves at 2.648 trillion dollars, a significant portion of which is invested in the euro.

In October, China pledged to back Greece, which nearly defaulted this year when investors snubbed its debt, by buying its bonds in future debt issues.

During a visit to Lisbon last month, Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged to help Portugal shed its fiscal crisis but Beijing has not yet made firm promises regarding the purchase of Portuguese government debt.

Earlier Tuesday, Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan said Beijing supported measures taken by the EU and the IMF to ensure financial stability across the eurozone and hoped they would "achieve some results as soon as possible".

"It is in the fundamental interests of China and the EU to further strengthen mutually beneficial economic cooperation," Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying.

Wang was co-chairing Tuesday's talks with European Commission vice-president in charge of competition policy Joaquin Almunia, Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.

Rehn told reporters after the talks that officials in Brussels "welcome the support" offered by China.

EU-China trade has exploded in recent years, making the EU the top destination for Chinese exports while China is Europe's biggest trade partner after the United States.

But disputes remain. There have been a series of trade spats over everything from modems to steel fasteners to China's yuan exchange rate policy.

Chen said Tuesday he hoped the EU would stop investigating a complaint that it is dumping wireless wide area networking modems in European markets, Xinhua said.

European firms for their part are concerned over China's move to cut export quotas of rare earths -- elements that are key components in everything from iPods to cars. Last year, China produced 97 percent of world supply of the minerals.

De Gucht said the Chinese side promised to ensure supply of rare earths and "I believe this is a very important statement."

On the thorny issue of China's indigenous innovation policy, which sees Chinese firms favoured in the lucrative government procurement market, De Gucht said the two sides had made "real progress".

Beijing pledged to ensure European companies would be able to participate in the government procurement market by not requiring products to have Chinese intellectual property rights.

"In practice this means European firms no longer have to become Chinese in terms of their intellectual property," De Gucht said.

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