But a top European diplomat said Chinese officials had assured him that European firms would not be unfairly treated as a result of the deal, and that Beijing remained committed to moving ahead with a planned investment treaty between the two sides.

Nicolas Chapuis, the EU’s ambassador to China, told a press conference on Friday that although the EU would monitor the implementation of the US-China trade deal, his counterpart in China had sought to dismiss any concerns.

“Yesterday in Beijing during my meeting in China’s foreign affairs ministry, I was given formal assurances that in no way … that in absolutely no way will European business be affected by the US-China deal,” he said.

The meeting “showed something that we do appreciate, that China’s focus on Europe has dramatically increased over the last year”.

Chapuis said those talks had “entered a critical stage” and that progress had been achieved “month after month”. The two sides exchanged their revised market access offers last month.

“We are seeing in a very clear and precise manner that the Chinese administration wants to achieve the EU-China negotiation of the investment agreement, and it’s delivering the human resources and time necessary to do that,” he said.

As officials from China and the EU held talks on the treaty this week in Brussels, two sources told the South China Morning Post that Beijing was serious about the deal and making “more moves than expected”.

The meetings were also becoming more frequent and lasting longer, one of them said.

The second source said the investment treaty was expected to be more substantial and comprehensive than the US-China phase one deal, would include structural changes and be open to countries around the world.

“China may want to agree something with a partner that does not put a gun to its head,” the person said.

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Chapuis said he was confident the investment deal could be concluded within the year, saying the commitment of both sides’ leaders and China’s moves since last year to open up its markets were “exactly in the direction of investment talks” and created a “positive atmosphere”.

“But substance will always prevail,” he said. “We will not conclude any agreement if the outcome is not what we are looking for,” he said, referring to the EU’s requests for improved market access, non-discriminative treatment, greater transparency and more predictable market conditions in China.

Chapuis said Vice-Premier Liu He would travel to Brussels in the middle of February to attend the high-level economic dialogue. The meeting had been scheduled for September but was cancelled as Beijing sought to resolve its trade dispute with the US.

The ambassador said also that the regular EU-China summit would take place on March 30-31 – after the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature – confirming an earlier report by the Post.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel are expected to meet Xi at the event.

Before the summit, climate change talks will be held at the end of February in Beijing. The EU is also expected to hold strategic talks and a human rights dialogue before its summit with China.

Chapuis said the two sides needed to tackle climate change, digitalisation, economic growth and regional security “in a cooperative and constructive manner”.