The president urged the EU to adopt an independent China policy and work with Beijing for the steady and sustained growth of bilateral relations.

He stressed that China and the EU should act as two major forces upholding world peace, and offset uncertainties in the international landscape with the stability of China-EU relations.

The two sides should jointly reject the resurrection of a rival-bloc mentality and oppose attempts to start a new Cold War, with a view to maintaining world peace and stability, he said.

He highlighted the importance of seeking greater synergy between the development strategies of China and the EU and exploring more areas of complementarity between China's new development philosophy and paradigm and the EU's trade policy for open strategic autonomy.

The EU was China's second-largest trading partner last year, with bilateral trade reaching $828.1 billion, up 27.5 percent year-on-year.

The two EU leaders told Xi that the bloc looks forward to candid communication with Beijing to sustain the good momentum of relations, and it is willing to continue deepening cooperation in the economy, trade, investment, energy and green development.

The two sides should jointly respond to global challenges including COVID-19, climate change and the protection of biodiversity, they said.

The meeting was held after the 23rd China-EU leaders' meeting on Friday, co-chaired by Premier Li Keqiang and the two EU leaders via video link.

Beijing suggested the two sides step up policy coordination on the response to COVID, as well as climate change and the digital economy on the basis of current dialogue mechanisms to foster new highlights in bilateral cooperation, Li said.

China and the EU should jointly maintain the security of energy and grain supplies and the stability of industrial and supply chains, respond to common challenges and ensure the sustainable recovery of the global economy, he said.