The ongoing European-Arabian tour by Chinese President Jiang Zemin proves that China has become a powerful Asian giant, the Syrian weekly Tishrin commented on November 2.

The Chinese president was received in London, Paris and Lisbon with the warmest official welcome, said the paper. Europeans are setting their eyes on the huge lucrative Chinese market, it added.

Jiang has visited Britain, France, Portugal, Morocco and Algeria and is currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia.

China signed with Britain trade agreements valued at a total of 3.5 billion US dollars during Jiang's trip to the country. The deals are considered as the biggest trade agreements Britain ever signed with an Asian country.

Europe and China need each another. While Europeans set their eyes on the huge 1.2 billion-people Chinese market, China is also seeking strong ties with the European continent to balance its economic and political relationship with the United States.

The US is endeavoring to diminish China's economic and political role in the international arena, and to have China preoccupied with side issues such as Taiwan, the paper said.

China's policy of smooth and gradual change toward market economy has proved succussful, the paper said. It has avoided disturbances and problems to which some Southeast Asian countries have been exposed, on the contrary, the country has played an effective role in alleviating the consequences of the economic crisis that has stormed those states since 1997, the paper added.

The weekly said that China's trade surplus last year reached a record high of 45 billion dollars and the gross domestic product (GDP) was almost 1,000 billion dollars in the same year. China drew about 75 billion dollars in foreign investments last year as compared to 45 billion in 1997.

Such a solid economic performance has enabled Jiang to speak in confident and firm terms right in the heart of Europe. Such language reflects China's awareness of its strong position and the fact that it is in no need to appease the Europeans, nor the Americans.

In his joint news conference with French President Jacques Chirac held on October 25, Jiang warned against foreign interference in China's internal affairs regarding human rights, though Beijing is always ready to engage in dialogue with the European Union on this issue.

Beijing showed its interest in boosting relations with Arab states by incorporating Morocco, Algeria and Saudi Arabia in the Chinese President's tour, the paper concluded.