China says it is waiting for clarification before investing in the euro zone bail-out fund, which European leaders hope will restore market confidence in the region.
"We need to wait for the technicalities to be clear and also to carry out serious studies before we can decide on investment," vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters.
He made the remarks as Klaus Regling, head of the bail-out fund, held talks with China's central bank and finance ministry a day after European leaders reached a last-ditch agreement to tackle the region's worst crisis in decades.
Expectations for a strong commitment from China had been high ahead of Regling's visit to Beijing, with the Financial Times quoting a source saying a cash injection into the fund could top $100 billion (€70.5 billion).
But publicly the Chinese government has been noncommittal and state media have said that Europe must take responsibility for the crisis and not rely on "good Samaritans" to save the continent.
Regling said the European Financial Stability Facility was looking at new ways to secure new investment, speaking after EU leaders announced measures including quadrupling the firepower of the fund to €1 trillion.
One option was to link a special purpose investment vehicle to the International Monetary Fund, though "nothing has been decided". He added that there was "no special deal" with China.
Regling will travel to Tokyo at the weekend, and today Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reiterated his country's readiness to help stabilise the euro zone, but also gave no details of any possible contribution.
China has already invested significant sums in European bonds and has repeatedly called on Europe to address its debt crisis, saying a failure to act risks dragging the world back into recession.
On Thursday, Beijing cautiously welcomed the European deal and reiterated China's "faith in the EU and the euro zone economy".
Mistake to let Greece in, says Sarkozy
French President Nicolas Sarkozy last night told French television that, without a credible plan to shore up Greece, the entire euro zone would have been at risk and the world economy affected.
"If Greece had gone bankrupt, there would have been a domino effect that would have affected everybody. The entire euro zone risked being taken down," Sarkozy said.
He said it had been a mistake to let Greece join the euro single currency when it did because its economy was not ready to form a monetary union with others in the club.
"Neither Mme Merkel nor myself were in office when the decision was taken to let Greece join the euro. And let's say it straight, it was an error, because Greece entered on the basis of false figures and it wasn't ready, its economy wasn't ready," Sarkozy said.
