Chinese President Xi Jinping signed over 120 accords with four European countries during his recent visit to Europe. Furthermore, China and the European Union jointly issued a statement declaring that the two sides will strengthen their partnership, according to the Chinese-language China Entrepreneur magazine.

During Xi's 11-day trip, he signed deals worth US$70 billion with the Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium, in areas including finance, communications, food, energy and cultural exchanges.

China's cooperation with the Netherlands covers agriculture and funding while its agreements with France are in the aviation, nuclear and automobile sectors. China has also granted quotas of 80 billion yuan (US$12.84 billion) for renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors.

During Xi's visit to Germany, the central banks of China and Germany signed a memorandum of understanding allowing Frankfurt to become the first clearing hub for the renminbi in Europe. Moreover, China's three automotive firms also agreed to work together with German counterparts.

Xi's trip marked the first time a Chinese president has visited the headquarters of the EU after China and the EU forged diplomatic relations four decades ago, indicating that both of them are willing to cooperate with each other and symbolizing the possibility of further development in economic and trade ties, said Yang Chengxu, a former ambassador to Austria. Yang said that handling the debt crisis is no easy task and that European countries are eager to attract investment from China. Further, China is a vast market that European firms cannot overlook, he said.

Yang said China's skills at constructing infrastructure are evident, adding that Croatia and Romania are greatly interested in China's high-speed railway technology.

At present, the EU is China's largest trading partner and its biggest importer, while China is EU's top origin of imports and second-largest trading partner.