Xi will meet with two top European Union leaders

President Xi Jinping will meet with the presidents of the European Council and European Commission via a videoconference during the 22nd China-EU leaders' meeting to be held next week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday.

The leaders' meeting will be co-hosted by Premier Li Keqiang, council leader Charles Michel and commission leader Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

It will be the first official meeting between the Chinese leadership and the new EU leaders, both of whom took office in December.

"China highly values this meeting and stands ready to work with the EU to push for positive results from it," Zhao said, adding that the meeting plays a significant guiding role in the China-EU relationship, established 45 years ago.

China will join hands with the EU to strengthen cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and reaching economic recovery, Zhao said. They also will deepen pragmatic cooperation in such areas as trade and investment, interconnectivity, climate change and scientific innovation, and enhance policy coordination on pressing regional and international issues.

China will also work with the EU to jointly uphold multilateralism, deal with global challenges, push forward the development of China-EU relations after the epidemic and make contributions to maintaining world peace and stability as well as promoting the global economic recovery, Zhao said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

As a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak, a series of political agendas between China and EU, including the leaders' meeting, which was scheduled in March, have been postponed.

In a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel this month, Xi said that a series of significant events in China-EU political exchanges were under discussion.

China is willing to keep close communication and coordination with Germany－which holds the EU's rotating presidency for the year's second half－and with the EU to ensure the success of these events and lift China-Germany and China-EU relations to higher levels, Xi said.