Chinese President Hu Jintao has said his country will back Portugal's efforts to confront the financial crisis, but stopped short of vowing to buy Portuguese debt as Portugal hoped.
'We are willing to take concrete measures to help Portugal cope with the global financial crisis,' he said after meeting Prime Minister Jose Sócrates, without elaborating further.
He also said he will encourage Chinese companies to invest in Portugal.
The two countries will also work to double their bilateral trade by 2015, Mr Socrates said.
In May, Prime Minister Sócrates announced plans to delay some major public projects in order to reduce the country's public deficit this year.
The Portuguese government said it will reduce the deficit this year to 7.3% of GDP.
Portugal is struggling to fend off comparisons to Greece and expects to be under the EU limit of 3% by 2013.
