China?is ready to buy 4 to 5 billion euros (US$6.6 billion) of Portuguese sovereign debt to help the country ward off pressure in debt markets, the Jornal de Negocios daily reported yesterday.

The paper said, without citing any sources, that a deal reached between the two governments will lead to China buying Portuguese debt in auctions or in the secondary markets during the first quarter of 2011.

Portugal has moved into the eye of the storm in Europe's debt crisis, with borrowing costs spiking as investors grew concerned it would be next in line to seek an international bailout after Ireland and Greece.

Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos met Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren and the head of the People's Bank of China last week. In October, during a visit to Greece, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered to buy Greek bonds when Athens resumed issuing.

A month later, President Hu Jintao visited Portugal and offered "concrete measures" to help the debt-ridden eurozone member but stopped short of promising to buy Portuguese bonds.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said on Tuesday that Beijing supported efforts by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to calm global markets in the wake of Europe's debt crisis and said China had taken "concrete actions" to help some European countries.

Later in the day, the Chinese commerce minister put the onus more firmly on EU policy makers to act.

"We want to see if the EU is able to control sovereign debt risks and whether consensus can be translated into real action to enable Europe to emerge from the financial crisis soon and in a good shape," Chen Deming said.