China said Wednesday it hopes Europe will stick to a bailout plan reached at last week's debt crisis summit, after Greece called a surprise national referendum on the deal.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China had "taken note" of the Greek referendum, adding that "we hope the European side can honestly implement the relevant plan to solve the crisis."

World markets have plunged after the shock announcement that Greece will hold a vote on the package of measures agreed last week to try to rescue the eurozone from a worsening debt crisis.

Europe has approached China -- which is already a major holder of European debt and has repeatedly called on EU leaders to put their financial houses in order -- to help finance an expansion of its bailout fund.

China has so far been non-committal about what help it could provide. On Wednesday, Hong reiterated Beijing's support and said he hoped Europe's actions would be "conducive to the stability of the markets".

"China is ready to explore ways to fight against the (debt) crisis with the EU," he said. "China has been and will continue to be a major investor in the EU market."