Beijing has reportedly promised full cooperation with the investigation.
In a video call on Wednesday, Xi and Niinisto noted the constructive dialogue between the sides regarding the incident, the Finnish presidential office said.
Finnish probe links Chinese ship to damaged Baltic Sea gas pipeline
Finnish probe links Chinese ship to damaged Baltic Sea gas pipeline
It continued: “The presidents also spoke about the EU-China relations, including recent developments and challenges.”
The meeting took place as tensions between China and Europe are growing over a host of issues from trade to security, and Beijing is seeking to foster ties with individual members of the 27-nation European Union.
According to Chinese state media, Xi praised Finland for its “long-standing friendly policy towards China”, and thanked Niinisto for promoting pragmatic cooperation and friendly exchanges.
He stressed that the China-Finland relations have maintained stable and positive trends with cooperation in areas such as forestry, agri-food products, information and telecommunications, energy, environmental protection, science and technology education as well as winter sports, which “brought tangible benefits to the people of our two countries”.
Xi said that China would like to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Finland, jointly advocate multilateralism, safeguard free trade, and make positive contributions to world peace and stability, Chinese state media reported.
“China is willing to work with European countries, including Finland, to see each other from a strategic and long-term perspective, and to maintain and develop China-European relationship,” Xi said, according to state news outlets Xinhua and CCTV.
Finland bolsters military ties with US after Putin warning
Finland bolsters military ties with US after Putin warning
“In the current circumstances of international turbulence and instability, the strategic significance and global impact of China-Europe relations have become more prominent.”
Meanwhile, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, the current holder of the EU Council presidency, is expected to arrive in China for a two-day visit that starts on Thursday.
