As global demand shrinks due to the financial crisis, growth of the world's second-largest economy's exports has been declining as well. In 2012, the nation's exports rose by 7.9 percent from a year earlier to $2.05 trillion, the lowest growth in a decade, compared with a 20.3 percent jump in 2011.

But that does nothing to detract from the country's progress on the world stage. An encouraging sign is that some Chinese companies, led by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd, have won international recognition for their know-how.

In 2009, China surpassed Germany as the largest exporter worldwide, and has maintained its position since then.

In 2011, China overtook the United States as the world's biggest goods producer by output, which helped the nation reclaim the global supremacy it lost in the 19th century.

Although China's exports to the EU dropped by 6.2 percent last year, the nation's share in the EU's market for foreign trade rose, experts said.

During the past two to three years, a rapidly growing number of Chinese companies have stepped up their efforts at acquiring Western rivals, those in Europe in particular, to obtain technology and networks, illustrated by Sany Group Co Ltd's purchase of Putzmeister in Germany.

In 2011, China's outbound direct investment in the non-financial sector in the EU increased by 94 percent year-on-year compared with just 1.8 percent growth of total ODI that year.

"China is really advancing rapidly toward high-end goods. It's an amazing improvement. We have confidence in the sales (of high-end products) in the European market," said Li Fei, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands.

In 2011, China surpassed Germany and the US to become the largest source of high-tech products imported by the Netherlands, a barometer of the European economy and a hub for both exports and imports in the region.

China was expected to lead the trend and maintain the top position in 2012 and beyond, Li predicted.

"Chinese manufacturers can compete with European players in sectors like machinery equipment, new energy and aerospace, but in many industrial sectors and traditional industries, China's design, technology and branding are still weak," said Zhou Shijian, a senior trade expert at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Examples of competitive Chinese companies are not rare. The Warren Buffett-backed Chinese battery and carmaker BYD Co Ltd, which entered the European market in early 1999 by selling batteries, began to crack the high-end business of electric buses in recent years.

"The European market is the key to our success in globalization, and we expect to win the European market through our high-end products," said Chen Yongping, European senior manager at BYD.

The company is well on the way. In January 2012, BYD beat two European counterparts from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, to win an order of six electric buses from the Dutch government.

It was the first electric-bus order the company has made overseas, and also the first such order that the European market had ever had.