China postpones talks with Airbus

(PARIS) - China has postponed talks on finalising a deal with Airbus for 150 passenger planes after Prime Minister Wen Jiaboa scrapped his visit to France, a spokesman for the European aircraft maker said Thursday.

But the spokesman said there were no indications that Beijing would back out of the contract for the 110 A320 medium-haul planes and the bigger 40 A330s carriers.

China, angry over President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to meet the Dalai Lama next month, has announced it was cancelling an EU-China summit scheduled for Monday.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, was to play host to Wen and a delegation of Chinese business leaders.

"Talks on the final details of the contract, that is the breakdown of the aircraft to the various Chinese airline companies, have been postponed," said an Airbus spokesman.

"There is no sign" that China intends to back down from the deal, he added. "Relations between Airbus an the Chinese aeronautic industry are excellent."

Airbus in September opened a new plant in the Chinese port of Tianjin, the the firm's first outside of Europe.