On 18 January in Beijing, the European Union and China held high level political exchanges at the level of European External Action Service (EEAS) Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid and Chinese Executive Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Yucheng.

During the meeting, the importance of making significant progress on bilateral relations was stressed, in line with the last European Union-China Summit held on 16 July 2018. Both reiterated their readiness to ensure the continued effectiveness of the rules-based multilateral order and further advance the international rules-based order with the UN at its core. The EU and China outlined their respective approaches to sustainable connectivity and exchanged views on a number of foreign and security policy matters of mutual concern, including in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. While openly addressing areas of disagreement, they explored possibilities for closer EU-China cooperation.

In particular, the EU and China recalled their support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as a key element of the global non-proliferation architecture and reiterated their commitment to ensure its effective implementation in all its parts in good faith and in a constructive atmosphere.