The chief of the CERN physics laboratory says China's decision to pause its major particle accelerator project presents an "opportunity" to ensure Europe's rival plan goes ahead.

Ten years ago, China announced its intention to build the Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC), which at 100 kilometres (62 miles) long would be the world's largest particle accelerator.

But Beijing recently put the project on ice, CERN's director-general Fabiola Gianotti told a small group of journalists at a recent briefing.

China's CEPC would be way bigger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) -- currently the world's largest, whizzing particles into each other at phenomenal speeds.

The 27-kilometre proton-smashing ring running about 100 metres (330 feet) below the border between France and Switzerl

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