Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his German counterpart the two countries must work together to foster good relations between Beijing and the European Union without any interference by a third party.

Xi made the suggestion during a phone call on Tuesday.

He also told Frank-Walter Steinmeier that China hopes Berlin can provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory operating environment for Chinese enterprises in Germany, the EU's largest market.

"Leading the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations is a direction that China and Germany should work together for," Xi said, according to CCTV.

"China supports the strategic autonomy of the EU and hopes that the European side will adhere to the basic positioning of China and Europe as strategic partners..., and to the principle that China-EU relations are not targeted, not dependent, and not subject to a third party," he said.