China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said yesterday the Asian giant had neither the ability nor the intention to “buy Europe”, amid concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken eurozone economies.

China is “willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe”, Mr Wen told a German-China business forum in the southern city of Guangzhou.

“This a concern and doesn’t fit reality. China doesn’t have this intention and doesn’t have this ability.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in China for a three-day visit to boost her host’s confidence in Europe, also attended the forum along with executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.

There are growing concerns in Europe that a recent wave of investment by Chinese companies and government-backed funds will give Beijing too much influence over struggling European economies.

In the latest deal, China State Grid has agreed to pay €387 million for a 25 per cent stake in the national electricity grid of debt-stricken Portugal.

European leaders have called on China, which has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, to invest in a bailout fund to rescue debt-stricken countries.