The exchange rate is the main source of tension in Sino-European relations because China has allowed the yuan to fall about 10 percent against the euro since July 2005 while pushing it up more than 11 percent against the dollar.
The central bank, which keeps the yuan on a tight leash, set it on Monday at 7.3942 per dollar, the highest level since the Chinese currency was revalued in July 2005.
The euro's strength is causing growing consternation in the EU, whose trade deficit with China is soaring.
Despite worries that the euro is denting Europe's competitiveness, plane maker Airbus clinched its largest order to date when China signed a framework agreement to buy 160 planes, topping a contract last year from Beijing to buy 150 aircraft.
French officials said China would pay around 10 billion euros ($14.8 billion) for the jets, compared with Airbus's list price of $17 billion.
In addition, China agreed to take a 5 percent risk-sharing stake in the development of the A350. The $10 billion (4.8 billion pound) project is Airbus's attempt to catch up with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in the fast-growing mid-sized jetliner market.
French state-owned nuclear energy group Areva also signed an 8 billion euro (7.16 billion pound) deal with China for two nuclear reactors and more than a decade of fuel.
Areva, which said the value of the contract was a record for the global nuclear industry, has asked to be paid partly in euros to protect itself against the fall in the dollar, chief executive Anne Lauvergeon said.
She said this was a first for a major deal with China.
Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus's parent company, EADS, said the orders for the 160 aircraft -- 110 single-aisle A320s and 50 twin-aisle A330s -- should be confirmed before the end of the year.
On top of that contract, Airbus said China Southern Airlines had bought 10 twin-aisle A330 aircraft in a deal worth $1.8 billion at list prices.
Earlier, Gallois told Reuters that the strength of the euro could lead to a massive increase in outsourcing of production to lower-cost countries if it was not reined in. Airbus sells its planes in dollars, but close to half of its costs are in euros.
"It is a vital danger, which means it is eating the margins of the company, but it is not an immediate one," Gallois said.
A high-powered European Union delegation is due in Beijing on Tuesday to further hammer home the message that Beijing needs to let the yuan climb, not only to ease global trade imbalances but also to cool its economy and tamp down inflation.
