SANYA, Hainan -- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero said his country is set to expand relations with China.

Apart from investing capital in China, promoting football, Spanish cooking and Cervantes Institutes in the country could be helpful to expanding relations between the nations, Zapatero said late Thursday when responding to questions from Outlook Weekly, a major news magazine affiliated to Xinhua News Agency.

The Spanish prime minister attended on Friday the opening ceremony of the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), held in China's southern island province of Hainan.

Zapatero said Spain is ready to further cooperation with China, intensify high-level exchanges and strengthen political and cultural exchanges.

He suggested stimulating Chinese interest in Spain by sending leading football clubs and top Spanish chefs to China.

China had bought some 25 billion euros in Spanish debt, more than 12 percent of the total, he said. China's investment in Spanish sovereign debt in the last two years was a sign of confidence, he said.

Zapatero said the Chinese side made it clear that it would continue buying Spanish sovereign debt and contribute to the restructuring of Spanish saving banks.

"But to give you a figure, in my view, is a little premature at this stage," he said. "In the coming two or three months we will be at a position to be more concrete on this."

As an "important and relevant player in Europe," Zapatero said, Spain can play a positive role in enhancing EU-China relations.

He expressed his hope that the two countries would deepen coordination and cooperation under multilateral mechanisms such as Group 20.