BEIJING — China is willing to help Europe to solve its debt problem, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday after the Euro zone finance ministers sealed a 130-billion-euro ($172 billion) bailout for Greece.

"We support the EU efforts in addressing the euro debt problem. We are always confident in the euro," Hong Lei, China's foreign ministry spokesman said at a regular press briefing.

"We will continue to work with EU and IMF, in a way that is suitable to our own abilities, to make joint efforts to solve the euro debt crisis," Hong added.

The statement did not represent any change in China's long-standing position on the EU. Hong did not say that China had made any specific financial commitment.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, while visiting Ireland, made it clear that China was willing to contribute more. Premier Wen Jiabao made a similar pledge at the EU-China summit earlier this month.

But those public statements have so far stopped short of promising to provide funds to bail out governments or buy billions of euros of new bonds.

Last week, the head of China's $410 billion sovereign wealth fund said Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel had asked it and other long-term investors to buy European government debt when she visited Beijing earlier this month, but such investments were "difficult" for long-term investors.

Lou Jiwei, chairman of China Investment Corp, said any fresh injection of funds into Europe would be in industrial and other real assets, not government bonds.

In Brussels on Tuesday, after 13 hours of talks, ministers finalized measures to cut Greece's debt to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, a fraction above the target, to secure its second rescue in less than two years and meet a bond repayment next month.