French President Jacques Chirac (right) meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday during the second day of Wen's four-day visit to France. — Philippe Wojazer

China pledged to buy 150 mid-range planes worth nearly US$10 billion from European aircraft maker Airbus under a framework agreement concluded yesterday during a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao.
The contract, signed by Airbus Chief Executive Gustav Humbert and the president of the China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group, Li Hai, involves single-aisle planes from the A320 family, which typically seat up to 185 passengers.
Wen and his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin also were present, overseeing the signing of 16 deals worth a total US$10.5 billion in range of industries.
The European plane maker described its agreement as "the largest single order that Airbus has ever received since it entered the Chinese market two decades ago."
Under the deal, A319s, A320s and A321s - all part of the A320 family - will go to Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Hainan Airlines.
Airbus, owned 80 percent by the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Co and 20 percent by Britain's BAE Systems, is seeking to topple US rival Boeing's dominance of the Chinese civil aviation sector by battling its way up to a 50 percent market share. It now holds around a third of the Chinese market, compared with Boeing's 60 percent.
Boeing last month landed firm orders for 70 of its mid-range 737s and options for another 80 during a visit to China by US President George W. Bush last month.
China said it would buy between 1,800 and 2,700 planes from the two companies - the world's leading commercial airline manufacturers - over the next two decades.
Among the other deals, French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel said it signed a contract with China Satellite Communication Corp to design and manufacture a new-generation satellite.
Eurocopter and a Chinese firm signed a contract for the development of a six-ton helicopter.  Also signed was a US$175 million financing arrangement for a high-speed rail link.
The Airbus order was announced on the second day of Wen's visit to France.
On Sunday afternoon, he visited the plane maker's headquarters in Toulouse in southwestern France and attended the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between the European aircraft maker and the National Development and Reform Commission of China.
The agreement includes the "possibility" of building an assembly plant for mid-range Airbus planes in China.
Wen, accompanied by a 70-member delegation, is on a four-day visit to France, the first leg of a European tour that will also take him to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Portugal.
(Xinhua)