French President Hollande in China on official visit

China welcomed French President Francois Hollande on Thursday with a deal potentially worth billions for 60 Airbus planes as he became the first Western leader to pay court to Beijing's new leader.

Hollande came to China accompanied by business executives, earning a brief respite from economic woes at home and the aftermath of a corruption scandal that has forced his budget minister to resign.

He was the first Western leader to be received in Beijing by China's new president, Xi Jinping, who accorded military honours to his fellow head of state on an inspection of People's Liberation Army personnel in Tiananmen Square.

In the Great Hall of the People adjoining the square, the leaders attended a signing ceremony for an outline agreement on the Airbus deal as Hollande pressed Xi to help rebalance China's trade surplus over France.

France accounts for just 1.3 percent of China's foreign trade compared with around five percent for Germany, and a trade deficit with China of 26 billion euros ($34 billion) last year is seen in Paris as unsustainable.

The French president later vowed to remove obstacles to Chinese investment in France as he vies to drum up anaemic rates of growth in the eurozone's number-two economy.

Hollande was due to have three meetings with Xi, including a state banquet on Thursday.

The two men will have a more intimate lunch on Friday along with their glamorous partners, Hollande's girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler and Xi's wife Peng Liyuan.

The French president will then travel to China's commercial hub of Shanghai before heading home late Friday.