Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said at a summit between China and European Union officials that China was ready to increase "its participation in resolving the EU debt problems."

Wen's comments came at the end of a meeting with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who are in Beijing for the two-day summit.

The European delegation is seeking to secure ties with China, which could play an important role in propping up the struggling eurozone economies. In turn, as Europe is China's top export partner, it is interested in seeing that the eurozone stays healthy.

"Our message from the EU side is Europe is doing what it takes and will continue to do what it takes to restore confidence," Barroso said in a joint news conference.

Wen did not make concrete commitments to contributing to a eurozone bailout fund, which is backed by the International Monetary Fund along with the EU.

In addition to mutual economic matters, the Chinese premier made comments regarding Beijing's position on Syria.

"What is most urgent and pressing now is to prevent war and chaos so that the Syrian people will be free from even greater suffering," Wen said. "To achieve this objective, China supports efforts consistent with the UN charter and principles and we are ready to strengthen communication with all parties in Syria and the international community and continue to play a constructive role. China will absolutely not protect any party, including the government of Syria."

Just over a week ago, China joined Russia in blocking a resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would have condemned violence from the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Syrians protesting his rule.

mz/msh (AFP, AP)