Chinese Trade Minister Bo Xilai said Tuesday that China and France possess great potential in economic cooperation and their economies are complementary rather than competitive.

After a meeting with French counterpart Francois Loos, Bo said the economic cooperation between China and France was far from the two countries' expectation and that in year 2004, Chinese trade with France was far below the United States and Japan, and also Germany and South Korea as well.

The Chinese minister also said China and France pay great attention to bilateral economic cooperation, which has been developed these years in the fields of energy, rail traffic and manufacturing. China welcomes the coming of French companies and the two countries have broad perspective in cooperation between small and medium-sized firms, Bo said.

As to the question about the Chinese textile imports surging into the European market, Bo said the figures published by French media were of particular categories in a particular sector. They were once under strict quota regime and are totally different froman export jump under normal conditions, he said.

Bo added that China had already taken effective measures, such as a limitation on certain investment in the textile sector. Chinais a responsible big trade country and wants to "soften the shock wave that could provoke massive exports of Chinese apparel," he said.

Loos said he agreed that China was a responsible country and that "China could undertake important steps in order not to disrupt the market."