European aircraft maker Airbus signed a framework agreement with China on Thursday to establish an Airbus A320 assembly line in Tianjin, a port city in north China.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting French President Jacques Chirac attended the signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Under the framework agreement, which now needs the approval of the Chinese government and the Board of Directors of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., the assembly line will go into operation in early 2009. It is scheduled to produce four Airbus A320 planes a month from 2011.

Airbus President and CEO Louis Gallois said at the ceremony that the joint venture will be a long term strategic cooperation and will benefit both parties.

He said Airbus will work with China to ensure that the Airbus A320 planes produced in Tianjin will be up to the same standard as those manufactured in other places.

"We are looking forward to the operation of the first A320 plane produced in China," he noted.

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